Arab Democratic Party political relations official Rifaat Ali Eid accused on Tuesday the Free Syrian Army of being involved in the latest round of clashes in the northern city of Tripoli, while adding that the Mustaqbal Movement has also been smuggling arms to Syria.

He said during a press conference: “The Mustaqbal Movement has been inciting the residents of Tripoli to attack the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood.”

Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi has taken sanctioned leave for three months, pro-government daily Al-Watan said on Tuesday, following reports of the diplomat's resignation.

"The foreign ministry has authorized Jihad Makdissi to go on leave for a period of three months and he left the country in a legal manner," the newspaper said, citing an official source.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Tuesday that the Lebanese army will remain in the northern city of Tripoli's hotspots as long as there is a danger of the eruption of another round of violence.

During a chat with reporters at his residence in Tripoli, Miqati expressed satisfaction with the measures adopted by the army.

Fierce clashes raged between Syrian troops and rebels around a major infantry academy at the northern entrance of Aleppo, as insurgents attempted to storm the school compound on Tuesday, a watchdog said.

The sprawling military school, located close to the town of Muslimiyeh near the Hanadarat Palestinian refugee camp, houses approximately 3,000 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

National carrier Middle East Airlines has denied a media report that two of its planes were targeted by surface-to-air missiles in Syrian airspace.

In a statement it issued late Monday, MEA said the company's planes continue to use the Syrian airspace which “is open and functions naturally.”

The Syrian economy has crumbled into a disjointed patchwork as civil war rages in the country, forcing some people to subsist through looting while others collect ransoms and civil servants continue to pay taxes and receive state salaries.

"Twenty-one months into the revolt -- with large swathes of territory slipping from government control -- we can no longer speak of just one Syrian economy," said Jihad Yazigi, director of the Syria Report economic website. "Now we have a mosaic of economies."

U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman is expected to introduce a resolution that would urge the European Union to label Hizbullah a terrorist organization, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The draft resolution by the Connecticut Independent calls on European countries as well as the EU to designate Hizbullah as a terrorist group and asks the Obama administration to provide information about the party to its European allies, the newspaper said.

The United States will declare the Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group battling to overthrow Syria's President Bashar Assad, a "foreign terrorist organization," documents showed Tuesday.

The State Department has not formally announced the move to blacklist the group, but posted the declaration in the Federal Register, in a document that described the Al-Nusra Front as an alias of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh on Monday said he would support the rise of a new “secular” regime in Syria, accusing the Christians of the March 14 coalition of betting on the partitioning of the neighboring country and subsequently of Lebanon.

“We have never supported the alliance of minorities, but some March 14 Christians are betting on the partitioning of Syria although that would hurt the minorities,” Franjieh warned during an interview on MTV.

The European Union edged closer Monday to the newly-formed Syrian opposition, welcoming its leader and deeming his group to be "legitimate representatives" of the Syrian people.

EU foreign ministers said they had welcomed the opportunity to meet Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib for an exchange of views as the bloody conflict in Syria shows no sign of ending and with the death toll above 42,000.