Fadel Shaker, a Lebanese pop star turned outspoken supporter of Salafism, an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam, on Sunday stressed the “need” for artists to support the beleaguered Syrian people, urging them to “reject the massacres” taking place in Syria.

Speaking at an anti-Syrian regime sit-in organized in Beirut’s Martyrs Square by Salafist Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir, imam of the Sidon’s Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, Shaker said: “Haven’t they seen the massacres in Homs, Daraa, Deir al-Zour and other regions?”

Syrian artillery gunners pounded the mainly rebel-held city of Rastan on Sunday, as 15 people were killed across the country and the Red Cross began delivering aid to refugees from the battered Homs district of Baba Amr, monitors said.

The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces killed seven people in the central province of Homs, three in the restive countryside around Damascus, one in the northern province of Aleppo, one in the central province of Hama, one in the southern province of Daraa and another in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour.

177 Syrians were killed on Saturday, mostly civilians, including 6 defected soldiers in clashes between the regime army and the Free Syrian Army across the country.

Head of the Free Syrian Army told al-Jazeera that “the Free Syrian Army killed more than 100 regime troops in Reef Damascus.”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Saturday in its weekly report that the number of Syrians who had fled to Lebanon since the crisis in their country had reached 7,085.

The number increased since last week by 142, according to the U.N. organization’s statement.

Hizbullah on Thursday hit back at U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s call for the group to disarm, stressing that “Lebanon has the right to possess weapons to defend its land and sovereignty against Israel’s occupation and threats.”

“Hizbullah stresses that it took up arms to liberate the Lebanese territory, which Ban Ki-moon and his international organization had miserably failed to protect,” Hizbullah said in a statement, noting that the U.N. “failed to force the Israeli occupier to withdraw.”

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on Thursday met with Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh at his residence in Bnachii, raising concerns regarding Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn’s “recent trip to Iran and his statements from Tehran,” the U.S. embassy in Beirut said in a statement.

Ghosn’s statements “suggest the Minister’s discussions could potentially lead to violations by Lebanon of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1747 and 1929,” the embassy quoted Connelly as saying.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel hoped on Thursday that the European Union would adopt a dialogue on the ongoing Arab revolutions.

He said after holding talks in Rome with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano: “Europe should adopt such a dialogue in order to maintain the peaceful nature of the Arab Spring and prevent it from spiraling towards permanent violence in the region.”

Syrian forces overran the Baba Amr district of powderkeg Homs on Thursday after rebels retreated, potentially marking a turning point in President Bashar al-Assad's bid to crush an increasingly armed uprising.

As rebel fighters pulled back, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) warned of a "massacre" in the rebel neighborhood by Syrian forces, while aid agencies said they would urgently try to get there to deliver aid and evacuate the wounded.

The newly-appointed President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Judge Sir David Baragwanath stated that the STL does not have jurisdiction in tackling the “so-called false witnesses file.”

He said in his first public statements since assuming his position: “We don’t have jurisdiction to tackle the false witnesses file until the Lebanese government, U.N., and Security Council agree to it.”

Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday said Lebanon had concerns Israel might deny it “its right to more than 850 nautical square kilometers” in maritime resources, stressing that “the problem is not between Lebanon and Cyprus, but rather between Lebanon and Israel.”

During a joint press conference with his Cypriot counterpart Yiannakis Omirou in Cyprus, where he arrived Wednesday on an official visit, Berri said “the U.N. has recently become convinced that it has to intervene in order to resolve this issue,” referring to the disputed oil and gas resources.