Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun hoped on Tuesday that political parties would grant the Orthodox gathering proposals over the parliamentary electoral an opportunity because its suggestions could probably be adopted in the 2013 parliamentary elections.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “We are experiencing the reasons that prompted the gathering to make its proposals in the first place.”

Up to 185 Syrians were killed on Tuesday, activists and a rights group said, as Damascus faced demands to halt its bloody nine-month crackdown on dissent a day after signing an Arab peace plan.

The Arab League said an advance team of observers would head Thursday to Damascus to lay the ground for monitors overseeing the plan, as Western powers and Gulf monarchs piled the pressure on Syria.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council called on arch rival Iran on Tuesday to "stop meddling" in the internal affairs of the group's members and urged Syria to "immediately halt its killing machine."

"Stop these policies and practices ... and stop interfering in the internal affairs" of the Gulf nations, said a statement released at the end of the GCC annual summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Syria has decided to slash public sector spending in a bid to head off a crisis for an economy that has taken a beating due to months of unrest and sanctions, media said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Adel Safar has issued an order for the public sector to reduce spending by 25 percent in a move designed at "limiting waste", Al-Baath newspaper reported.

Syria will be judged by actions rather than words, Germany's foreign minister said Tuesday, urging Damascus to immediately implement an accord to allow Arab observers to monitor a deal ending a nine-month protest crackdown.

Guido Westerwelle, Germany's top diplomat, noted that Syria had broken promises in the past.

Representatives of Syria's opposition will visit Iraq next week as part of Baghdad's efforts to end nine months of unrest in the country, National Security Adviser Falah al-Fayadh said on Monday.

"The Syrian opposition will visit Iraq next week," Fayadh told state broadcaster Al-Iraqiyah TV. He did not give any further details of the visit.

The U.N. General Assembly on Monday passed a resolution condemning human rights in Syria where a government crackdown on protests has left more than 5,000 dead, according to U.N. estimates.

The resolution was passed with 133 countries in favor, 11 against, with 43 abstentions. Syria's U.N. ambassador said the resolution was part of a "devilish" plot against his country.

Dozens of Syrian army deserters were killed by machinegun fire as they tried to flee their military posts in northwestern Idlib province on Monday, as security forces shot dead 25 civilians across the country, rights groups said.

In a statement sent to Agence France Presse, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said between 60 and 70 deserters were gunned down as they abandoned their positions in the Idlib towns of Kansafra and Kafr Awid.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim Robert Watkins hoped on Monday that the Lebanese authorities will take the necessary measures to bring those behind the attacks against the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon to justice.

He said after holding talks with Hizbullah International Relations official Ammar Moussawi: “It is in the interest of all parties to ensure that security is guaranteed for those, such as UNIFIL troops, who are trying to maintain stability in the South along the Blue Line.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed on Monday the importance of dialogue in reaching an agreement over a parliamentary electoral law.

He told Radio Orient: “Dialogue over the law is ongoing with all our allies.”