Syrian Local Coordination Committees confirmed on Saturday that security forces killed 34 civilians as they pressed on with a crackdown on dissent across the country.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said six civilians were killed when security forces launched search operations in the southern Daraa province, the cradle of anti-regime protests that began in mid-March.

Leaders of Syria's largest opposition movement met behind closed doors in Tunisia on Saturday to discuss ways of accelerating the downfall of President Bashar Assad.

Tunisia is hosting a three-day meeting of Syrian opposition groups formed before and since the launch of the March uprising against Assad's regime.

The Arab League on Saturday threatened to take Syria to the U.N. over its deadly crackdown on dissent but an Iraqi mediator said he had "positive" talks in Syria aimed at defusing the nine-month crisis.

The Qatari prime minister warned that the Arab League would take Syria to the U.N. Security Council if it persisted in refusing to allow observers into the country to monitor the protection of civilians.

An Iraqi team held "positive" talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday in a bid to end the deadlock over an Arab League plan to stop nine months of bloodshed, its leader told Agence France Presse.

"I am on my way to Cairo for a meeting with the Arab League after holding positive talks with President Assad," National Security Adviser Falah al-Fayadh said.

The Arab League expects the Damascus regime to sign up "soon" to an observer mission intended to monitor the protection of civilians, the bloc's number two Ahmed Ben Helli said on Saturday.

"There are positive signs... I expect the signing will happen soon," Ahmed Ben Helli told AFP ahead of a meeting of an Arab League ministerial commission in Qatar.

Hizbullah International Relations official Ammar Moussawi stressed on Friday that any instability in the South affects the party more than any other in Lebanon, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Saturday.

He condemned, after holding talks with French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton, the latest attack against the French unit in the United Nations interim Force in Lebanon, saying that the party places great importance on the security of the South.

A Syrian farmer was killed on Friday when a landmine exploded as he was driving his truck across an illegal border crossing into Lebanon, a medical source said.

"The man was transferred to a hospital in Akkar in critical condition and he died shortly thereafter of his wounds," the source said, referring to a district in northern Lebanon where several wounded refugees have received medical care.

More than 4,500 Syrians fleeing a deadly crackdown on a revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have found shelter in Lebanon, with hundreds crossing the border in the last two weeks, the United Nations said Friday.

A report released by the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said 4,510 Syrians, including women and children, had registered in northern Lebanon, up from 3,798 at the beginning of December.

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem condemned the attack against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon on December 9, slamming the March 14 camp and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe’s accusations that the party was behind the assault.

He said: “We have decided to file a lawsuit against those who made such accusations against us.”

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians protested nine months into their uprising on Friday, demanding the Arab League hasten its response to a bloody crackdown on dissent, as activists said security forces shot dead 17 people across the country.

Nine people were killed in the central province of Homs, three in the central province of Hama, three in the southern province of Daraa and two near the capital Damascus, the Local Coordination Committees reported.