Sources close to Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said the minister returned from Ankara with “great optimism” that he would reveal soon on the fate of 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria since May.

The sources told An Nahar daily published Sunday that a visit by Charbel and General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to Turkey was “fruitful.”

As Muslims the world over geared up for Eid, the celebrations marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Syrians faced another daily cycle of bloodshed on Saturday.

Local Coordination Committees said that the number of people killed by the Syrian regime forces rose to 160 in Damascus and its suburbs.

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad should contact him to clarify the charges against Syrian officials in the case of ex-Minister Michel Samaha.

“It is expected; I swiftly contacted Assad when Syria accused 33 Lebanese figures of being linked to security matters in Syria… Today Lebanon is charging a Syrian official (Ali al-Mamlouk) and I am waiting for him to clarify the matter,” Suleiman told reporters at Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s summer headquarters in Diman.

A former Syrian minister who defected last year said Saturday that it was "well-known" that Vice President Faruq al-Shara had tried to leave and was under house arrest.

The comments by former deputy oil minister Abdo Hussameddin came after the regime in Damascus denied opposition claims that Shara, the most senior Sunni Muslim official in President Bashar Assad's Alawite-led regime, had defected.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday to take the necessary initiatives to guarantee the safe release of the two abducted Turkish nationals in Lebanon.

“He demanded Berri to press the release of the two Turkish nationals,” diplomatic sources told Anatolia news agency.

The conflict in Syria is a struggle between the United States and Iran whose outcome will decide whether the Middle East follows the path of an Iran-inspired Islamic movement or U.S. influence, a top Iranian official said on Saturday.

"Today, we are in the final with the United States in Syria," Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of the Expediency Council that advises supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

The departing U.N. observer mission chief on Saturday accused both Syrian army and rebel forces of failing to protect civilians, as activists report dozens of people killed daily.

"Both parties have obligations under international humanitarian law to make sure that civilians are protected," General Babacar Gaye, head of the U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria, told reporters in Damascus.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stated on Saturday that Lebanon “belongs to all of its factions” and not just one party.

He said on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr: “National responsibilities require the cooperation of all sides in order to tackle the current situation.”

Speaker Nabih Berri received on Saturday a message from French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on the case of the 11 kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims.

He informed the speaker that the 11 pilgrims are alive and doing well.

The European Union on Saturday pledged to support Lakhdar Brahimi as the new international mediator on the Syria conflict in his "immensely challenging task".

"Mr. Brahimi is an experienced diplomat with a deep understanding of the region," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement, adding: "The EU will provide him with its full support in this immensely challenging task."