Seif al-Islam, fugitive son of fallen Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi, said Wednesday in an audio tape on an Arabic-language channel that he was still in the country and the fight against rebels goes on.

"I am talking to you from a suburb of Tripoli," he told the Damascus-based Al-Rai television station. "We want to reassure the Libyan people that we are still here. The resistance continues and victory is near."

Iran on Sunday cautioned NATO against any military intervention in its main regional ally Syria, warning the transatlantic alliance that it “would drown in a swamp from which it would never be able to escape.”

“Syria is the spearhead of resistance in the Middle East and the NATO alliance cannot intimidate this country by waging an attack,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in an interview with the official IRNA news agency.

Security sources killed six people when they opened fire on demonstrations across Syria on the last Friday of Ramadan, as tens of thousands of protesters flooded the country’s streets vowing to bring down President Bashar al-Assad’s regime despite deadly crackdowns.

Protesters took to the streets in response to calls by The Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook group which urged rallies under the banner of "Friday of patience and determination."

Lebanon failed to qualify in the final round of the Asian Olympic qualifiers after losing 2-1 against Malaysia in Kuala Lampur Thursday.

China also crashed out of London 2012 Olympics qualifying in controversial circumstances while Asian champions Japan survived a scare to make it safely through to the next stage.

This week marks a new decade for Naharnet as it bids farewell to its 10-year-old website and enters a new era with a groundbreaking Content Management Platform completely built in-house.

The initial Naharnet 2.0 website will slowly develop into a new environment that will redefine Naharnet as a digital and social media destination for the Lebanese and Arabs across the world.

Efforts are underway by France to launch an initiative to solve the Lebanese crisis following the government's collapse but Syria has reportedly rejected a French mediation.

"Paris is keen on solving the Lebanese crisis through dialogue with the different Lebanese sides and with this country's neighbors," French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Friday.