Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf warned Israel of instability if the regime of his cousin President Bashar Assad falls, vowing to "fight to the end," according to The New York Times.

"If there is no stability here, there's no way there will be stability in Israel," said Makhlouf, who is on a list of 13 Syrian figures subjected to European Union sanctions for their role in violence against protesters opposing Assad's autocratic government.

The EU is to look at fresh sanctions this week against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime after already honing in on his inner circle, EU diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton said Wednesday.

Asked by members of the European Parliament to explain why Assad's name was not on a list of 13 Syrian officials hit by European Union sanctions, Ashton said "we started with 13 people who were directly involved" in cracking down on protests.

Syria has allegedly been behind the latest Hizbullah proposal to end the government formation impasse after the aides of the speaker and the Hizbullah leader met with Syrian officials in Damascus.

According to An Nahar daily, Syria gave the “password” to MP Ali Hassan Khalil and Hussein Khalil who returned to Beirut with new suggestions, including three possible names to head the interior ministry, which has been behind the three-month stalemate.

Syrian forces tightened the noose Tuesday on key protest hubs, including flashpoint Banias, sealing off neighborhoods and arresting leaders of the anti-regime dissent movement, activists said.

A pro-regime newspaper said the army had restored "calm" in Banias, while an adviser to President Bashar Assad told The New York Times she believes the regime has ridden out the worst of the uprising.

President Michel Suleiman hoped on Tuesday that stability would be completely restored in Syrian regions that witnessed protests recently in order that the reforms pledged by Syrian President Bashar Assad would be implemented.

He warned after holding talks with the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali of the dangers of sectarian incitement in the Arab country being launched under the guise of demanding reform.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the government of Syria can solve its "problem" without foreign intervention, state television reported on Tuesday.

"The government and the people of Syria have reached a level of maturity to solve their own problem by themselves and there is no need for foreign intervention," Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Istanbul, which was reported by state television Tuesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed his great disgust with Lebanese officials’ preoccupation with the “futile” debate over the Interior Ministry portfolio, while completely ignoring the developments in the region.

He told As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Tuesday: “Any portfolio will be worthless if the regional instability hit Lebanon.”

Syrian citizens have continued to flee their country’s unrest by seeking refuge in the village of Wadi Khaled on Lebanon’s northern border with Syria, As Safir reported on Tuesday.

A number of Homs city residents spoke of their suffering to the newspaper and expressed their previous intentions to come as refugees to Lebanon. “The bad security conditions banned them from going out of their houses in Homs,” they said.

The younger brother of President Bashar Assad headed a list Tuesday of 13 Syrian officials subjected to European Union sanctions for their roles in violence against protestors.

Maher Assad, 43, was described as "strongman" of the Republican Guard and the "principal overseer of violence against demonstrators" on the list published in the EU's Official Journal.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has stressed that he had good relations with Syria and would continually visit Damascus.

“I don’t want to snap back at the fabrications made about my last visit to Syria,” Jumblat told As Safir daily in remarks published Tuesday about reports that he had returned from Damascus empty handed.