U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday urged world support for punitive strikes against Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons, while Damascus vowed retaliation and resistance even if a third world war erupts.

Obama, fresh from efforts in Washington to secure bipartisan support for military intervention, said in Stockholm that the world had set "a red line" for Syria and it could not now remain silent in the face of the regime's alleged use of chemical weapons.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday hoped U.S. President Barack Obama will not act on Syria as his predecessor George W. Bush acted on Iraq, accusing caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati of appointing directors general as “his spies” in state institutions.

“I had suggested in 2005 to form a parliamentary committee on security, but they have been delaying it because there is a political will against its creation. It should be a regular committee like the rest of committees and MPs must demand a proper performance from the security agencies, or else it should not be formed and let them bear the responsibility,” Aoun said after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabiyeh.

Syrian leader Bashar Assad warned Monday that Western military strikes would risk igniting a "regional war" in the "powder keg" of the Middle East, in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro.

He also said France would face "repercussions" if it took part in U.S.-led plans for military action in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by Assad's regime last month.

The head of Syria's opposition National Coalition on Sunday urged Arab countries to back U.S.-led Western strikes on the Damascus regime over an alleged chemical weapons attack.

"I am here before you today to appeal to your brotherly and humanitarian sentiments and ask you to back the international operation against the destructive war machine" of the Syrian regime, Ahmed al-Jarba told a Cairo meeting of Arab League foreign ministers.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday he had taken no "final decision" on striking Syria but that the world could not accept the gassing of women and children, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington knows “where the rockets were launched from."

Calling Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons a threat to U.S. national security, Obama said the response would be "narrow" and "limited."

Britain advised its citizens on Friday against all but essential travel to Lebanon, citing a recent uptick in violence and wider tensions in the region.

The Foreign Office said in the advice that British nationals already in the country should consider leaving if it is not essential for them to be here.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Thursday that it is “appalled” by the recent developments in Syria, including last week’s reported use of chemical weapons and the ensuing escalation of events.

"The suffering of civilians in Syria has now reached unprecedented levels, and there appears to be no end in sight," said Magne Barth, the head of the ICRC’s delegation in the country, said in a released statement.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday called for a change in the methods of “combating terrorism” in the country, slamming what he called the “chaos” that characterizes the relations among the various security agencies.

“Everyone knows that we had warned against the entry of Syrians and said that they must be registered because we can't host people whose political affiliations we don't know, even if they come from a neighboring country,” Aoun said after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabiyeh.

Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdullatif Al-Zayani condemned on Saturday the “terrorist” blasts that rocked the the northern city of Tripoli.

“Targeting worship places and innocent people is a vile criminal action,” al-Zayani said in a statement issued late on Friday.

Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on Saturday pointed to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, three days they allegedly killed hundreds of people in attacks near Damascus.

Syria's main opposition group, the National Coalition, accused the government of "massacring" more than 1,300 people in chemical weapons attacks on Wednesday.