In an army barracks seized by rebels in northern Syria, Abu Islam heads a new unit that looks into complaints against insurgents for abuses such as intimidation, extortion and vandalism.

"We need an organized system that works better than before, to eliminate bad behavior by (rebel) Free Syrian Army fighters and civilians," Abu Islam told an AFP correspondent in al-Bab.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that Syrian President Bashar Assad should be "brought to justice" if his regime uses chemical weapons to combat the armed revolt in his country.

"I have expressed my concerns to the Syrian government and I have sent a letter to President Assad two days ago," Ban told a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Oqab Saqr challenged the Syrian government and his Lebanese foes on Thursday to prove that he was providing rebels with weapons after he broadcast the original tapes in which reports said he was striking a deal to arm the fighters.

OTV and al-Akhbar newspaper, both close to the Hizbullah-led March 8 majority coalition, broadcast and printed a three-part series of the recordings in which the lawmaker allegedly discussed arrangements to ship arms supplies to the Syrian opposition.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr received on Thursday the case of former Minister Michel Samaha ahead of issuing an indictment in the affair, reported the National News Agency.

First Military Investigation Judge Riyad Abu Ghaida referred the file to Saqr for assessment after he completed his investigations in the case.

Clashes renewed on Thursday in the northern city of Tripoli after a three-day violence linked to the conflict in neighboring Syria, with the death toll reaching 11 as an investigation has been launched in the matter.

Thirty-nine-year-old Hassan Abaydo was shot in the heart by a sniper in the Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen, Agence France Presse reported.

Regime forces waged fierce assaults on rebel positions around Syria on Thursday, including on the outskirts of Damascus where the government is determined to regain control, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting on Wednesday had claimed 104 lives across the country, according to its toll compiled from a network of activists, lawyers and doctors.

The German government said Wednesday it had approved participation in a NATO mission to deploy Patriot missiles to help member state Turkey defend its border against Syria and will send up to 400 troops.

The foreign and defense ministries said in a joint statement that the mandate, which is expected to be presented to parliament early next week, would run to January 31, 2014.

Several Lebanese men arrested in a deadly ambush in the Syrian town of Tall Kalakh will not be handed over to Lebanese authorities and will be tried in Damascus instead, An Nahar daily reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said that around three of the armed men, who mostly hail from North Lebanon, were arrested in the ambush made by Syrian regime forces last week while 14 of them were killed as they infiltrated Tall Kalakh to fight alongside the Free Syrian Army.

The United States said Wednesday it was aware of informal offers of asylum to Syrian President Bashar Assad by countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner gave no details, referring reporters to others governments after being asked about speculation that the Syrian president was weighing asylum offers from Latin America.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called on all warring parties in Syria to stop fighting immediately, saying there is no military solution to the conflict.

"The military option cannot be a solution. The violence must stop immediately," Ban told reporters in Kuwait City after talks with Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah.