Lebanese banks have been ordered by the Central Bank to freeze the accounts in dollars of Syrians residing in their country, banking sources told al-Liwaa daily published Tuesday.

But a lot of Syrians, who have accounts in dollars, converted them to other currencies to avoid the pressure of international sanctions, the sources said.

U.N. investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could be used to make nuclear arms.

The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Moammar Gadhafi was trying to build nuclear weapons under Khan's guidance, officials told The Associated Press.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour has stressed upon his return from Doha the importance of respect for agreements signed between Lebanon and Syria.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Tuesday, Mansour said he would return to Cairo on Wednesday to participate in the extraordinary meeting of the Arab League’s initiative committee to solve the situation in Syria.

British Ambassador Tom Fletcher warned Lebanon that any procrastination in funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would be a “bad sign” and pave way for impunity.

In remarks to An Nahar daily on Tuesday, Fletcher said non-commitment to Lebanon’s obligations to the STL would pave way for criticism that Lebanon belongs to Hizbullah and would obstruct the culture of ending impunity.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Monday held talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on “the current situation in the Arab arena and the situation in Syria,” Syrian official news agency SANA reported.

Muallem and a Syrian delegation on Sunday held talks in Doha with an Arab League ministerial team on ways to end the unrest in revolt-hit Syria.

Security forces shot dead eight civilians and an army deserter in separate incidents in revolt-hit Syria on Monday, a rights group said.

Six people were shot dead in the protest hub city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen ruled out the possibility of a no-fly zone for Syria, in remarks to an Agence France Presse correspondent as he travelled Monday to Tripoli to mark the end of the alliance's air war in Libya.

"It's totally ruled out. We have no intention whatsoever to intervene in Syria," Rasmussen said when asked if there was a possibility NATO would now spearhead a no-fly zone in Syria.

A proposed Arab League plan to end months of bloodshed in Syria includes a demand to remove tanks from the streets, the head of the pan-Arab group Nabil al-Arabi told Agence France Presse on Monday.

"The Arab proposal to Syria calls for withdrawing tanks and all military vehicles to bring an immediate end to the violence and give assurances to the Syrian street," Arabi told AFP in the Qatari capital Doha.

Security authorities at Rafik Hariri International Airport have arrested a Syrian national accused of smuggling weapons, Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) reported Monday.

VDL said Mohammed Shaker Toufiq was arrested in the early hours of Monday.

Arab League Chief Nabil al-Arabi cancelled on Monday his visit to Beirut because of the Syrian crisis, Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) reported.

Al-Arabi was scheduled to meet with President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Speaker Nabih Berri along with Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.