“The question of the arms embargo was raised by some members of the European Council. We agreed to task our foreign ministers to assess the situation as a matter of priority already at their informal meeting next week in Dublin, and to develop common positions.”

The lastest development comes amid calls by France and Britain to lift an embargo on supplying weapons to the Syrian opposition with President Francois Hollande warning that France could do it alone if no EU agreement is reached.

The European Union is divided over the issue, with some fearing that sending more weapons to Syria could further escalate the  two-year conflict.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page,  has called on syrians to take to the streets after Friday prayers under the rallying cry “Two years of sacrifice towards victory” as the syrian government beefed up security measures.

The conflict erupted in March 2011 when protesters inspired by Arab world uprisings took to the streets  across Syria calling for freedom.

At the same time, the commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army vowed to continue fighting until Assad’s “criminal” regime is gone, AP reported.

“Dear friends, the Free Syrian Army (fighters) will not give up.”

The United Nations humanitarian chief today urged the international community to do more to end the crisis in Syria which is now entering its third year.

The call came as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos wrapped up a two-day visit to Turkey, where she spoke with Syrian refugees in the south-eastern Kilis Province.

“I met families who fled their homes more than 18 months ago. They are in despair. They feel abandoned by the international community. They all want the same thing: the conflict to end so that they can go home,”

As part of her visit, Ms. Amos also met in Ankara with the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Besir Atalay, and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, as well as other Government officials and senior humanitarian officials, including the President of the Turkish Red Crescent Society (KIZILAY), Ahmet Lutfi Akar.

Syria has been wracked by violence since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. Up to 70,000 people have died, more than 1 million have fled to neighbouring countries, 2 million have been internally displaced and up to 4 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.

As Syrian cities come under artillery and aerial attacks on multiple fronts, Sheikh explained that the FSA, the main armed opposition fighter group in Syria, is becoming more powerful and gaining ground.

“The regime’s army can only attack with warplanes and tanks, but it is now very difficult for ground forces or police patrols to walk around inside the cities with the exception of Damascus,” he said to Al Arabiya.

Sheikh stressed the unity of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) saying the FSA brigades might have different names, but they all belong to one entity.

The institutionalization of the FSA is made possible by the defection of more senior officers in the state army and there have been efforts from other foreign countries he added, criticizing Iran and Russia for backing Assad’s regime

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday acknowledged deep differences with Russia over how to handle the crisis in Syria, saying she would continue to try to convince Moscow to back increased international pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad at a news conference at the end of the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit.

Troops meanwhile bombarded rebels in the key city of Aleppo, as a bomb attack on a bus carrying civilians and soldiers in the province of Homs reportedly killed four people and wounded dozens, according to activists.

The violence followed a bloody day in which as many as 172 people have been killed by the fire of Syrian forces across the country on Saturday, including 89 in Aleppo, according to the Local Coordination Committees.

Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, said none of the observers had been wounded in the blast, state TV reported. “This was a criminal act aimed at distorting Syria’s image,” it quoted him as saying.

The target was not immediately clear. The area is home to the Syrian army officers club and a building belonging to the ruling Baath Party and is also not far from the army command, according to Al Jazeera. 

Meanwhile, the rebel Free Syrian Army claimed a bomb attack in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday that it said targeted an operational meeting in a local military headquarters, according to AFP.

“The FSA operation targeted a military command office with explosives designed to go off at a meeting of army officers and members of the shabiha (pro-government militia) which decides on daily operations in Damascus,” Maher Nuwaimi, head of the FSA coordination command in Syria said.

Damascus has been rocked by several bomb blasts recently, including an attack last month at the national security building that killed three of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime members including his borther-in-law.

The latest violence comes as some Islamic countries prepare to meet in the Saudi city of Mecca to discuss the crisis. The Organisation of Islamic Co-operation is expected to suspend Syria’s membership, despite objections from Iran, Syria’s last regional ally

More than 23,000 people have been killed in violence in Syria since the outbreak of a revolt in March last year, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

In the video released on Sunday, fighters of the al-Baraa Brigade of the Free Syrian Army said that they had “captured 48 of the shabiha [militiamen] of Iran who were on a reconnaissance mission in Damascus”.

“During the investigation, we found that some of them were officers in the Revolutionary Guards,” said a man dressed in an FSA officer’s uniform, showing documents taken from one of the men, who appeared in the background, according to Al Arabiya.

Meanwhile, Iran’s state-run TV channel IRNA said the pilgrims were seized by “armed groups” on the Damascus airport road as they returned from a religious shrine, quoting an unnamed official in Iran’s embassy in Damascus as saying.

Tehran has repeatedly denied it has sent any military units to Syria. On Sunday, Iran asked Turkey and Qatar to help secure the hostages’ release, Iranian media reported.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians travel each year to Syria to visit a Shia pilgrimage site, the shrine of Sayeda Zainab, in Damascus.

Syria’s unrest has escalated in the last weeks, with fighting engulfing Damascus and Aleppo for the first time in the 17-month uprising against Assad family rule.

The rebel army had claimed to have under  its control most of east Aleppo, while also maintaining a grip on central neighbourhoods, including Salaheddin and Bab al-Hadid, according to Al Jazeera. 

Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said “acts of brutality” reported in Aleppo could be crimes against humanity.

The footage shows allegedly members of the Shabiha, or armed groups who have assisted in the government’s crackdown, are lined up and shot.

One of the victims has been identified as Ali Zeineddin al-Berri, who has been accused of leading a shabiha group which killed 15 FSA soldiers during a truce in Aleppo on Tuesday, BBC reports.

The development comes as fierce fighting has erupted for control of Syria’s largest city, with rebel fighters putting up determined resistance as Syrian troops mount air and lank attack on Aleppo.

More than 180 Syrians were killed on Wednesday: 115 unarmed civilians, 18 armed rebels, and 45 members of regime forces, according to the UK-based group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Meanwhile,  the UN said its military observers in Syria had seen the military use a fighter jet to strike the rebels in Aleppo, who were now armed with tanks.

The UN observer mission also reported seeing a fighter jet attacking the city in a field visit to the city on Tuesday.

The FSA’s military chief in Aleppo, Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Oqaidi, said the FSA has “thousands” of rebels in the city.

“The regime says it is fighting ‘terrorist groups’. We tell the regime that we will chase them because they are the terrorists,” Oqaidi told AFP.

“We will go after them in the whole of Aleppo, until the city is liberated.”

Kassem Saadeddine, FSA spokesman, said the rebels controlled half of Aleppo city and most of its province, according to Al Jazeera.

“We hope to create a safe zone in Aleppo and [the northwestern province of] Idlib,” on the border with Turkey, Saadeddine said. Idlib and Aleppo are northern Syria’s two main cities.

Earlier Wednesday Assad said that the Syrian army was engaged in a “crucial and heroic battle… on which the destiny of the nation and its people rests” in a speech marking the 67th anniversary of the army.

“The enemy is among us today, using agents to destabilize the country, the security of its citizens… and continues to exhaust our economic and scientific resources,” Assad said.

Damascus does not recognize the uprising against his rule that erupted in March 2011, describing opposition activists and rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) alike as “armed terrorist groups” funded by foreign powers.

Meanwhile, the U.N. General Assembly will vote on Friday on an Arab-drafted resolution calling on Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to stand down, as the deadly fighting continues, according to Al Arabiya.

Asaad also dismissed a 48-hour deadline in a declaration issued on Wednesday by senior Free Syrian Army officer Qassem Saadeddine for Assad to comply with the plan.

“There is no deadline, but we want Kofi Annan to issue a declaration announcing the failure of his plan so that we would be free to resume military attacks against the regime,” Colonel Asaad told Al Jazeera, adding that the rebel forces had so far kept their commitments to the plan.

The announcement came as the 15-nation UN Security Council members was briefed by Jean Marie Guehenno, Annan’s deputy, about the worsening crisis and the peace efforts by Annan.

On Wednesday, Major-General Robert Mood, the head of the UN observers in Syria, said 13 bodies had been discovered in the east of the country, with their hands tied behind their backs and signs that some had been shot in the head from close range.

 The bodies were discovered late on Tuesday in the area of Assukar, 50km east of Deir al-Zor. It comes after the weekend massacre of more than 108 people.

US ambassador Susan Rice said the unabated violence and failure to implement Annan’s plan could lead to the “worst scenario” in Syria, and that the pessimistic scenario is the “most probable,” Al Jazeera reported.

The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 15 months ago.

The massacre in Houla last weekend, which was strongly condemned by the Security Council and a host of UN officials, will be the subject of a special session of the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council on Friday. This will be the Council’s fourth special session on Syria since the crisis in the Middle Eastern country began some 15 months ago.

Assistant Vice-President, General Hasan Turkmani, said in a statement “The news reported by al-Jazeera is completely baseless and reflects full media bankruptcy”.’ My colleagues and I are safe and sound and serving our duties assuredly,” he added.

Minister al-Shaar said, ”I am speaking from my office at the Interior Ministry…All my colleagues are performing their duties. It is regrettable that we became accustomed to such laughable news by bankrupt channels since the onset of the crisis in Syria that encourage shedding more Syrian blood,” according to SANA agency.

The Free Syrian army has claimed responsibilty for killing several top officials in President Bashar Assad’s regime, rebel leaders reported on Sunday. Among the dead, according to the rebels, were Assad’s brother-in-law and head of military intelligence Assef Shawkat and Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Interior Minister al-Shaar, and vice-president Hasan Turkmani.

A rebel leader in a skype conversation with Al Jazeera vowed to release the first proof for the killing of the officials. Until now nothing has been released.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting erupted Sunday between Syrian troops and rebels on the outskirts of the capital Damascus in Kafarsoueh, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The explosions were caused by shelling attacks by Syrian forces, it added.

Several explosions also rocked the city of Douma after midnight, as regime forces shelled frams in Rihawn, near Douma, accoridng to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Saturday, a car bomb killed nine people at a Syrian military post in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor. The SANA news agency said the blast had been the work of a suicide bomber at what it called military installations. State television called the blast part of a campaign funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to topple Assad.

President Barack Obama told G8 leaders meeting at Camp David that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power, and pointed to Yemen as a model of how political transition could work there, the White House said on Saturday.