Some 200 youth activists who oppose Syria's regime opened a four-day meeting in Istanbul Wednesday, hoping to improve coordination among the groups working to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

The group that includes Syrians living in the country, as well as in the United States, Europe and Saudi Arabia, are united in "trying to bring together the new Syria," said Banah Ghadbian, a 17-year-old Syrian-American.

The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday Hizbullah’s “provocation” of comparing four suspects in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri to saints.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “These stands demonstrate the party’s nervousness ahead of the unveiling of the truth.”

A debate has emerged among the Lebanese forces allied to Syria over Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat’s recent positions, with some sides voicing their disappointment with them, revealed a March 8 source to al-Jumhuriya newspaper on Wednesday.

“We are monitoring his stances” in apprehension of any shift in his alliance, it added.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held talks Tuesday in Damascus with Lebanon’s Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil on the situations in Lebanon following the formation of the new government and the Syrian-Lebanese relations, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

Talks also dealt with the situation in Syria and the region, SANA added.

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday called on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to resign, directing his message to the Arab world in his first news conference for Arab media.

Peres also voiced respect for Syrian demonstrators who he said "are fighting for peace and who want to live like human beings."

Security forces have killed another three people and arrested so many that Syria has become a "huge prison," activists said on Tuesday, as the crackdown on dissent shows no signs of easing.

Two men and a woman were shot dead on Monday in separate incidents in and around the flashpoint central city of Homs and in the northwestern city of Idlib, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The unprecedented revolt threatening the regime in Syria has placed key ally Hizbullah in a tight spot and prompted the Lebanese group to adopt a more measured attitude, analysts say.

"Hizbullah's margin of maneuver is currently very limited because the strategic Iran-Syria-Hizbullah axis is threatened by the revolt and this forces the group to act prudently," said Paris-based Middle East expert Agnes Levallois.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat continues to remain a centrist and seeks to defend civil peace, Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Tuesday.

Civil peace is a priority for Jumblat who is only interested in keeping Lebanon away from strife, Abou Faour, who represents the PSP chief in the cabinet, said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said that the media and political scuffle between the March 8 and 14 forces is “a battle without any horizon and won’t lead to any result.”

In remarks to al-Liwaa daily published Tuesday, Jumblat said: “The only result of this battle is more Sunni-Shiite tension.”

Syrian armed forces have arrested several people after demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad's regime were held across Damascus, rights activists said on Monday.

"The army on Sunday arrested nine people in the district of Hajar al-Aswad and many others in Sahnaya," a suburb south of Damascus, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.