Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told envoys from Brazil, India and South Africa on Wednesday that Syria is committed to hold talks with pro-democracy protesters and engage in reforms, official SANA news agency said.

"Syria is committed to the national dialogue and enacting the reforms announced by President Bashar al-Assad on June 20, 2011," Muallem told the delegates, SANA reported.

The chief negotiator charged with ensuring the release of the seven Estonians cyclists revealed that they were accidentally abducted by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, he told Asharq newspaper in remarks published on Wednesday.

The negotiator, who chose not to disclose his name, said that the abductors were seeking to kidnap Americans, then Frenchmen as a second choice, and English nationals as a third one.

The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour’s visit to Damascus aimed at showing solidarity with the Syrian regime, saying that it was a shameful moment that portrayed Lebanon as the only Arab supporter of the regime that “is committing massacres against its people.”

It said in statement after its weekly meeting: “We urge President Michel Suleiman to summon Lebanon’s Ambassador to Syria in order to hold consultations on the developments there.”

Dozens of Syrian army vehicles packed with soldiers left the flashpoint protest hub of Hama on Wednesday 10 days after storming the central city to fight "armed groups," an Agence France Presse correspondent saw.

Forty personnel carriers decked with Syrian flags rolled out of Hama with soldiers chanting slogans praising embattled President Bashar Assad, said the journalist who visited the city on a tour organized by the authorities.

Lebanon will take part on Wednesday in a scientific research that will enable scientists to trigger an early tsunami alert before it occurs.

“Lebanon will participate in a new scientific research that includes several countries in the region in an attempt to issue an early tsunami alert,” chairman of the National Research Council Moein Hamza told Voice of Lebanon radio on Wednesday.

As Syria's crackdown on protesters gets bloodier, it is having repercussions for one of Damascus' most crucial allies, eroding the reputation of Hizbullah.

At recent protests, Syrians demonstrating against President Bashar Assad have also unleashed their anger at Hizbullah over its blunt support for the regime. Some protesters have set fire to the yellow flag of Hizbullah and pictures of the group's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Investigators probing the alleged smuggling of weapons from Lebanon to Syria have discovered that several suspects held in the case have previously carried out similar operations, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The military prosecutor general charged during the weekend two Lebanese men with allegedly smuggling weapons from the Beirut Marina to Syria.

More than 2,000 Kuwaitis have rallied outside the Syrian embassy in the Gulf state demanding the expulsion of the Syrian envoy and the "freezing" of relations with Damascus.

Holding Syrian flags, the demonstrators chanted "the people want to expel the ambassador," amid a heavy police presence that prevented some protesters from approaching the embassy building.

Syrian troops launched a vast operation on Wednesday in Idlib province bordering Turkey and killed at least one person, activists said, amid growing outrage over the regime's crackdown on dissent.

A defiant President Bashar al-Assad pledged to pursue a relentless battle against "terrorist groups," seemingly oblivious to the mounting international pressure to stop the use of deadly force against pro-democracy protesters.

The Obama administration is preparing to explicitly demand the departure of Syrian President Bashar Assad and hit his regime with tough new sanctions, U.S. officials said Tuesday as the State Department signaled for the first time that American efforts to engage the government are finally over.

The White House is expected to lay out the tougher line by the end of this week, possibly on Thursday, according to officials who said the move will be a direct response to Assad's decision to step up the ruthlessness of the crackdown against pro-reform demonstrators by sending tanks into opposition hotbeds.