Turkey is working relentlessly to locate and repatriate two journalists missing in Syria for about 10 days, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday, amid reports one of them had been tortured.

"We sadly do not know where they are and we do not have any confirmed information. But we are working round the clock to find them and bring them back to Turkey safe and sound," he told a news conference.

Two more generals have fled Syria and linked up with rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus, a Turkish diplomat said on Monday.

The latest defections mean a total of nine generals have deserted since the revolt against Assad's rule erupted a year ago, many of them seeking refuge in neighboring Turkey.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Monday that escalation will not benefit any side in Lebanon as tranquility is the only way to resolve disputes and maintain stability.

“It’s the same old rhetoric, escalation will not benefit anyone, and calm is the only way to resolve the issues,” Miqati told As Safir newspaper.

Thousands of Kurds clashed with police Sunday in Istanbul and the southern city of Diyarbakir, leaving nine people injured as security forces tried to stop Kurdish New Year festivities.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to prevent more than 40,000 Kurds from gathering at the main square in Diyarbakir, capital of the Kurdish-majority south, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

Some 200 Syrians fled to Turkey on Saturday, bringing to nearly 16,000 the number who have crossed the border to escape an ongoing government crackdown, Turkish Anatolia news agency said Sunday.

The refugees, including women and children, crossed into Hatay province from Syria's northwest Idlib province, where government troops have launched a crackdown on rebels.

A Turkish Kurdish rebel group with bases in northern Iraq said on Saturday it would release five Turkish nationals it kidnapped last year if Ankara would agree to a prisoner exchange.

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) spokesman Bakhtiar Doran said the five -- a town mayor, a policeman and three Turkish soldiers -- were snatched last year, but did not specify the date of their kidnap, or provide their names.

Turkey on Friday "strongly" urged thousands of Turkish nationals to leave Syria and said it was considering withdrawing its ambassador from the violence-wracked country.

"Developments in Syria pose serious security risks for our nationals," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "Therefore it is strongly recommended that Turkish nationals currently in Syria leave and return home."

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal arrived in Turkey on Friday to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who advocates cooperation with the Islamist movement, a close aid to the premier said.

"The prime minister will meet with Meshaal at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT)," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A Turkish helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of Kabul on Friday, killing 12 Turkish soldiers and two Afghan civilians in what appeared to be Ankara's deadliest incident in Afghanistan.

The bodies of two women were recovered from the rubble after the crash in Bagrami district, in the east of the capital, the local interior ministry told Agence France Presse, correcting an earlier death toll.

Speaker Nabih Berri threatened on Friday to debrief the cabinet if it didn’t carry out its tasks regarding Lebanon’s offshore oil wealth project, As Safir newspaper reported.

“The cabinet should assign the committee tasked with administrating the oil sector and set the tenders to kick off the offshore natural resources exploration,” Berri stressed.