General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza confirmed on Monday that the two suspects accused of smuggling weapons from Lebanon to Syria through Beirut Marina were released, As Safir newspaper reported.

Mirza told the daily that “interrogations with them by the army intelligence and the military prosecutor general didn’t prove the allegations.”

A Jordanian died of his wounds on Sunday after he was hit by sniper fire last week in the Syrian city of Homs, a hotbed of that county's anti-regime revolt.

"Tareq Mohammed al-Khaldi, 20, died today in King Abdullah I hospital," near the northern city of Irbid, Jordan's state-run Petra news agency reported.

At least 26 people were killed as the Syrian military opened fire on the Mediterranean port city of Latakia on Sunday, with warships and tanks joining the assault, activists said.

But the state-run news agency SANA denied that the navy had attacked Latakia, quoting its correspondent in there as saying security forces were battling gunmen.

Canada said Saturday it had expanded sanctions on Syria, including blacklisting a commercial bank and a mobile phone provider, to protest the government's brutal crackdown on protests.

The new sanctions include travel bans on four officials, including Mohammed Mufleh, head of military security in the flashpoint city of Hama, and Mohammed Makhlouf, an uncle of President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. President Barack Obama joined key British and Saudi allies Saturday in demanding that the Syrian regime "immediately" halt its brutal crackdown on protesters.

During a telephone conversation, Obama and Saudi King Abdullah expressed their "shared, deep concerns about the Syrian government's use of violence against its citizens," the White House said in a statement.

France advised its citizens in Syria Saturday to leave the country as security forces continue to clamp down on pro-democracy protests.

"We advise French citizens who are still in Syria to leave the country by commercial transport," the foreign ministry said in the travel advice section of its website.

Syrian troops killed at least three people as they pounded Latakia and raided other towns on Saturday, activists said, as Washington and Riyadh demanded that Damascus "immediately" halt its crackdown.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two people were killed and 15 wounded, four of them critically, during a military operation in the southern Latakia area of Ramleh, a nerve centre of anti-regime protests.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati conducted Friday Muslim prayers at the Munthir Mosque in downtown Beirut where mosque Sheikh Abdul Qader Akkari conducted the sermon, calling for supporting the Syrian people in their plight against a regime crackdown against their protests, reported the daily Al-Liwaa reported on Saturday.

Akkari pointed out that “certain sides’ fear over losing their wealth and position in power is forcing them to take cautious measures over the developments in Syria.”

The United Nations Security Council is expected to discuss human rights and the humanitarian emergency in Syria after at least 16 people were killed as thousands of protesters rallied after Ramadan weekly prayers.

The Security Council will hold a special meeting next Thursday, diplomats at the United Nations announced.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has called on his Syrian counterpart to implement overdue reforms before it is too late, in a letter handed over to Bashar al-Assad by Turkey's foreign minister.

"I would not want you to look back some day and regret that you acted too little and too late," the Anatolia news agency quoted Gul as saying in his letter.