More than 63,000 Syrian refugees have fled the bloody conflict in their home country for neighboring Iraq, according to figures released by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on Saturday.

The intense fighting between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebels battling to overthrow him has sparked a huge exodus of Syrians to neighboring countries.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Saturday there is evidence that the Syrian government could use its chemical weapons stocks in its conflict with rebels fighting to oust it.

"We are extremely concerned about the stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and we are also concerned about evidence during the last couple of weeks that the regime could use them," Hague told reporters in Manama on the sidelines of a regional security conference.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and Tripoli lawmakers said Saturday that the Lebanese government should take “decisive measures” to resolve the situation in the northern city as sniper activity and clashes renewed in the city breaching its fragile peace.

During a press conference that Charbel held before heading a security meeting, he hoped the meeting would be the start to the implementation of measures that would limit Tripoli's problems and lead to talks between the warring parties after days of gunbattles between the residents of two neighborhoods left scores of casualties.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour announced on Saturday that Syria will hand over the bodies of three Lebanese killed in the Tall Kalakh ambush on Sunday.

“The three bodies belong to Khodr Mustafa Alameddine, Malek Ziad al-Hajj Dib and Abdul Hamid Ali Agha,” revealed a statement issued by Mansour's office.

A Lebanese Shiite pilgrim, who is among nine men held by rebels in Syria since May, urged in a new videotape their families to exercise self-restraint and reiterated the call for al-Mustaqbal MP Oqab Saqr to negotiate their release.

In the tape released by Syrian rebels in the town of Aazaz after midnight Friday, Ali Zgheib said that he along with the other “eight Lebanese are doing good.”

The United Nations is strengthening its force monitoring a ceasefire between Syria and Israel because of the growing threat from the Syria conflict, a top U.N. official said Friday.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said extra armored cars would be sent to the force in the strategic Golan Heights where tensions have escalated in recent months as the civil war spreads.

The world chemical weapons watchdog has asked Syria to sign up to a convention banning their use, expressing "serious concerns" that for the first time in the agreement's history they might be used.

The announcement by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) came amid speculation that Syria is considering using chemical weapons in its war with rebel forces.

A stray bullet fired from inside Syria wounded a Jordanian soldier on the border on Friday, prompting the kingdom's army to respond to the source of fire, an armed forces spokesman said.

"The border area in Tel Shehab has in the past few hours witnessed heavy fighting between the Syrian (regime) army and the Free Syrian Army," he said in a statement carried by the state-run Petra news agency.

The Dutch cabinet on Friday gave the go-ahead to sending NATO Patriot missiles to Turkey to defend its border against Syria, along with a maximum 360 soldiers to operate them.

"The cabinet has decided shortly to send two Dutch Patriot batteries to contribute to the protection of our NATO ally Turkey," a government statement said.

President Michel Suleiman noted on Friday that democracy in the Arab world cannot be stabilized without establishing an independent Palestinian state.

He added: “The participation of the minorities of the Middle East in political life will also stabilize democracy in the region.”