Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat considered on Wednesday that the priority at this “critical stage” is to seek consensus between the cabinet members to safeguard the stability of Lebanon amid the turmoil in the region.

“The current cabinet is essential to ensure stability because any other alternative would merely lead to a (political) vacuum,” Jumblat said in remarks published in As Safir newspaper.

The Saudi foreign ministry on Tuesday urged its citizens to leave Syria and not to travel to the Arab nation that has been hit by months of deadly anti-regime protests.

"Due to the security situation, Saudi Arabia urges its citizens to leave Syria and not travel there," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Seven Lebanese men on Tuesday denounced Syria's authorities for what they said was false usage of footage filmed in 2008 to prove "terrorist" involvement in unrest rocking Syria.

The seven men at a press conference in Tripoli's impoverished Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood showed what they said was the original video they had shot and posted on Facebook, and identified themselves one by one.

Syria's foreign minister will attend an emergency meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation aimed at finding ways to end the bloodshed in his country, an OIC official said Tuesday.

The meeting to be held on Wednesday comes just days after the Arab League imposed unprecedented economic sanctions on Syria, including a ban on travel of Syrian officials to Arab countries.

Turkey may consider setting up a buffer zone on its border in coordination with the international community in the event of a massive exodus of refugees from Syria, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.

"We are preparing for every scenario," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Kanal 24 television channel when asked whether Turkey was mulling the creation of a buffer zone.

Russia on Tuesday urged an end to "ultimatums" against its Middle East ally Syria after the approval of Arab League sanctions and a call from Washington and the EU for an immediate end to violence.

"Right now, the most important thing is to stop acting by means of ultimatums and try to move toward political dialogue," Interfax quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

Turkey plans to bypass Syria for regional trade if conditions in the neighboring country deteriorate, the country's transport minister said on Tuesday.

"If conditions aggravate in Syria, we are planning to shift (road) transport to Iraq by opening new gates," Transport Minister Binali Yildirim was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has advised the Lebanese to preserve their unity and prevent the Syrian crisis from affecting their country.

In an interview published in el-Shark newspaper on Tuesday, Juppe said all Lebanese “should focus on dialogue and work on preserving their national unity and civil peace to avoid disputes and importing them” to Lebanon.

The United States and the European Union on Monday called on the Syrian government "to end violence immediately" in a joint statement issued after White House talks.

"We call on the Syrian government to end violence immediately, permit the immediate entry of human rights observers and international journalists, and allow for a peaceful and democratic transition," the statement said.

Syrian regime forces and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed nine civilians across the country on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Among the dead were six civilians killed in the flashpoint central province of Homs, one in Hama and two cut down by powerful machineguns in Rankuss near Damascus, said the London-based Observatory.