The Syrian regime has agreed to provide access to detention facilities throughout the country, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday.

Jakob Kellenberger, who concluded a two-day visit to Damascus on Wednesday, said in a statement that Syrian authorities had agreed on procedures for visits to places of detention.

France is not confident Syrian strongman Bashar Assad will fully implement a ceasefire deal brokered by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan before an April 12 deadline, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Thursday.

"Can we be optimistic? I'm not," Juppe said, when asked by journalists about hopes that Annan's plan might bring an end to the Syrian regime's violent repression of a popular revolt against Assad's rule.

The Syrian regime is not bound by a deadline to withdraw its troops from strife-torn areas, pro-government daily al-Watan on Thursday quoted a government official as saying.

"There is no set date or deadline," the unnamed official said.

Russia on Thursday warned the West against using threats and ultimatums in its approach to Syria's regime as the United Nations prepared a statement on the protracted conflict.

"Russia proceeds from a deep conviction that any steps around Syria should be aimed at facilitating the success of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's mission," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

More than 1,000 Syrian refugees fled to Turkey in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of people currently staying in Turkey to nearly 21,000, a Turkish official told AFP on Thursday.

"A total of 1,043 Syrians made their way to Turkey in a single day, marking the highest figure in recent times," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Fierce clashes between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters erupted on Thursday in Douma, near the capital Damascus, while violence also raged in other parts of the strife-torn country, monitors said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime troops backed by tanks stormed Douma at dawn amid heavy gunfire and shelling.

Turkey's foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador Wednesday over remarks by a top official in Tehran denouncing an international conference on the Syria crisis held in Istanbul.

The move came as Iran said it no longer wanted Turkey to host nuclear talks, and followed comments reportedly made by Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani critical of Ankara for staging the "Friends of Syria" conference.

Syria security forces killed at least 44 people on Wednesday, amid fierce clashes and fresh military operations, activists said.

Fifteen people were killed in an explosion that destroyed two buildings in the Damascus suburb of Beit Sahem, while 21 people were shot dead in Homs, six in Idlib and two in Hama, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.

Israeli President Shimon Peres stated on Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar Assad is “more brutal” and “less clever” than his late father Hafez, reported Israeli news website ynetnews.com.

He said while touring the Golan Heights with Israeli Chief of Staff Benny Gantz: “Assad’s fall will be a deathblow to Hizbullah.”

The head of the Israeli Northern Command Major General Yair Golan stated that Hizbullah’s possession of chemical weapons obligates Israel to take the necessary measures to combat them.

He added that Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is a “legitimate” target for the Jewish state.