Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali said on Thursday that paying Lebanon’s share of funds for the U.N.-backed court probing the murder of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri is a Lebanese affair, praising any effort that fortifies Lebanon against the Israeli threats.

“Concerning the STL, it’s a Lebanese affair… We bless any effort that strengthens Lebanon and stabilizes it,” Ali added after a meeting with ex-PM Omar Karami.

Amnesty International and rights activists on Wednesday called on the U.N. Security Council to refer the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protests to the International Criminal Court.

A Syrian activist forced into exile by President Bashar Assad's government said there has to be "regime change" in the country, but with no foreign intervention.

The brother of Syrian President Bashar Assad, several ministers and telecom magnate Rami Makhlouf are on a list of 17 senior figures to be targeted by Arab League sanctions, officials said Thursday.

Under the economic measures agreed this week by the 22-member organization, they would be banned from travelling in the region and have any assets in Arab countries frozen, if the list is confirmed at a meeting on Saturday.

Israeli Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Wednesday that the Jewish state has the ability to hit targets deep inside Lebanon and Syria.

Israel has airpower and the intelligence ability “to hit launch sites everywhere -- from a range of a few kilometers in Gaza and Lebanon to a range of hundreds of kilometers deep in Lebanon and Syria," Vilnai said.

Foreign ministers of the world's largest Muslim body urged Syria on Wednesday to cooperate with the Arab League, which imposed unprecedented sanctions on Damascus over its crackdown on months of protests.

Ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to "respond to the decisions of the Arab League," according to a statement released at the end of emergency talks on Syria.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly welcomed on Wednesday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s announcement that he had transferred funds Lebanon is obligated to pay to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, said the U.S. Embassy in a statement.

She noted that Lebanon’s commitments to the tribunal extend beyond the issue of funding alone.

The embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday pressed on with a deadly crackdown on dissent.

Activists reported that 11 civilians were killed by Syrian forces in the flashpoint provinces of Idlib and Homs, while in the southern Daraa province, cradle of eight months of anti-regime unrest, a blast killed seven security forces.

The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the situation in Syria on Friday following a request by the European Union, a diplomatic source said.

"There will be a special session of the Council on the human rights situation in Syria on Friday," the European diplomat told Agence France Presse, adding that 28 countries had signed the call for the extraordinary session, the third this year.

Lebanon will enforce Arab League sanctions imposed on neighboring Syria even though it did not back the punitive measures, Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

"We are committed to implementing the Arab League sanctions," Nahhas said, pointing out that the Syrian government in any case had no trade dealings with Lebanon.

Turkey on Wednesday slapped economic sanctions on the Syrian regime, freezing assets of Syrians involved in the government's crackdown on protesters, suspending ties with Syria's Central Bank and banning all military sales.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference that Syrian President Bashar Assad has wrongly ignored calls from the international community to stop its bloody crackdown on protesters.