China's Middle East envoy Wu Sike cautioned Syria during a visit to Damascus of the dangers of a government crackdown on dissent that he said "cannot continue," he told reporters in Cairo on Sunday.

Wu said that he "affirmed to senior officials in Syria of the danger of the situation and that it cannot continue," during his visit to Damascus on Thursday.

MP Marwan Hamadeh revealed Thursday that ex-PM Saad Hariri was “unconvinced” with Premier Najib Miqati’s avowed commitment to funding the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

“Hariri is unconvinced with Miqati’s commitment to funding the STL, but we in the March 14 camp have not ruled out such a possibility,” Hamadeh said in an interview on MTV, when asked about Wednesday’s meeting in Riyadh between Hariri and a March 14 delegation.

An Arab League team held "frank" talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday at the start of a bid to mediate with the opposition.

"The meeting with President Assad was frank and friendly and we are going to continue our talks on October 30," said Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani.

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh on Thursday announced his rejection of a possible rise to power by Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, saying “I cannot accept those who believe that it is permissible to spill my blood.”

In an interview on LBC television, Franjieh revealed that ex-PM Saad Hariri had allegedly told him Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was “totally innocent” of his father’s 2005 assassination and that “the Iranians were behind the assassination” of former premier Rafik Hariri.

Nine people were killed on Sunday as Syrian security forces pressed a crackdown on political dissent in three separate hubs of protest against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in emailed statements received by Agence France Presse in Nicosia that four civilians died in the central city of Homs when security forces opened fire on a protest outside the home of a detained activist, Mansur al-Arassi.

Britain's Foreign Office has again summoned the Syrian ambassador to London over the alleged intimidation of exiled activists, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday, urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

It is the third time this year that Syrian ambassador Sami Khiyami has been summoned by the British government amid unrest in the Arab nation, while it also rescinded his invitation to Prince William's wedding in April.

The European Union decided on Thursday to freeze the assets of the Commercial Bank of Syria, in a new set of sanctions over the Syrian regime's brutal crackdown of protesters, diplomats said.

"Today's decision is a direct consequence of the appalling and brutal campaign the Syrian regime is waging against its own people," said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin left China Wednesday after a visit that yielded $7 billion in trade pacts but no breakthrough on a long-delayed gas deal with the world's top energy consumer.

Putin held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao in Beijing on his first foreign trip since he announced plans to reclaim the Russian presidency.

A Syrian army defector has called for military aid to help his armed opposition group topple the Damascus regime, in an interview published in Turkey on Monday.

Colonel Riad al-Asaad, who defected in July, appealed for weapons for an armed opposition group he set up called the "Syrian Free Army".

Russia expects a delegation of Syrian opposition politicians to visit Tuesday, a senior foreign ministry official said on Saturday.

"We are ready to meet them at the foreign ministry. This could happen on October 11 if they manage to arrive in time," deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the ITAR-TASS news agency.