U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has tasked Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly to inform Lebanese officials about his deep concern over a possible vacuum in the army leadership, American and European diplomats said.

The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Monday that Ban is “extremely concerned” that a vacuum in the army commander's post would have security and political repercussions on the role of U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

Arab states of the Gulf on Monday urged the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to prevent a "massacre" in Syria's central city of Homs, the target of a fierce offensive by regime troops.

In a statement, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members announced they are "following with deep concern... the unjust siege Syrian regime forces are imposing on Homs... with military support from Hizbullah and under the umbrella of Iran's Revolutionary Guards".

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday urged armed groups in Mali to join a new ceasefire accord between the government and Tuareg rebels.

The 15-nation council welcomed the accord sealed on Tuesday in Burkina Faso between the transitional Malian government and Tuareg groups, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA).

The United Nations scrambled Friday to find fresh troops for its beleaguered Golan Heights peacekeeping force, which Russia said is in "dire straits" as it offered to help.

President Vladimir Putin said Russian troops could replace almost 380 soldiers that Austria says it will withdraw from the ceasefire zone between Israel and Syria because of the increased danger from the Syrian civil war.

The U.N. force in the Golan Heights was thrown into disarray Thursday after Austria withdrew its troops and two peacekeepers were injured as Syrian government and rebel fighters battled for a border crossing.

Peacekeepers from the Philippines and India were wounded by mortar shrapnel as the Syrians fought for the strategic crossing, according to diplomats.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour asked Lebanon's ambassador to the U.N. late Saturday to file an “urgent” complaint with the Security Council over Israel's violations of Lebanese airspace.

A statement said that Mansour asked Nawwaf Salam to submit the complaint against Israel “over its flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and related international resolutions mainly resolution 1701.”

Syria's opposition on Friday urged the U.N. Security Council to take immediate action after the United States said for the first time the regime probably used chemical weapons.

"It is time for the U.N. Security Council to act" on Syria, an official from the main opposition National Coalition told Agence France Presse.

Nearly seven million people need humanitarian assistance in Syria, a senior United Nations official said Thursday, criticizing Damascus for hampering aid distribution.

"The needs are growing rapidly and are most severe in the conflict and opposition-controlled areas" of the civil-war ravaged country, the global body's humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told the U.N. Security Council.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati welcomed on Friday a U.N. Security Council statement which underscored its grave concern at the arms trafficking and repeated weapons fire across the Lebanon-Syria border.

It is a “constructive statement” and “we all agree on,” Miqati said following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.

President Michel Suleiman has stressed that Lebanon will continue to implement a U.N. resolution that halted the Israel-Hizbullah war in 2006 in an attempt to restore sovereignty on all its territories.

“With the support of the international community, Lebanon will continue to work to implement Security Council resolution 1701 in an effort to restore sovereignty on all its territories,” Suleiman said on Thursday during a dinner banquet thrown by the President of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, in his honor.