The "Friends of Syria" group is to meet in the Netherlands next week to broaden the scope of sanctions and sharpen specific measures against the Damascus regime, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The September 20 meeting comes after the European Union agreed Saturday on the need to beef up sanctions against President Bashar Assad inner circle as the world struggles to resolve the bloody 18-month conflict.

Russia will press the U.N. Security Council to this month endorse a Syria peace accord that was brokered in Geneva and has since split world powers, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.

"There is a plan to hold a special meeting of the U.N. Security Council with the participation of ministers on the Syrian issue," Lavrov said in the Russian city of Vladivostok after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged the European Union on Friday to step up the pressure on Iran over its controversial nuclear drive by beefing up sanctions.

"It is necessary to increase the pressure on Iran, to intensify sanctions," Hague said in reference to Iran, as he joined his 26 EU colleagues for two days of informal talks in Cyprus expected also to focus on the conflict in Syria.

Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad lashed out at the March 14 alliance over its memorandum over the Syrian violations, accusing the coalition of covering up its participation in the aggression against Syria.

“The March 14 memo is incitement against Damascus and directly targets it,” Raad said in a press conference at the parliament.

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Western and Arab powers Thursday to reassess their stance on Syria and ensure the security of its current leadership in any power transition process.

"Why should Russia be the only one reassessing its position? Perhaps our negotiating partners should reassess their position," Putin told Russia Today television.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday accused countries who send arms to Syria of spreading "misery" as he called for greater international efforts to end the war and ease a mounting humanitarian crisis.

"Those who provide arms to either side are only contributing to further misery -- and the risk of unintended consequences as the fighting intensifies and spreads," Ban told the 193-member U.N. .General Assembly.

The U.N.'s new envoy to Syria said on Saturday that President Bashar Assad's regime should realize that the need for change was both "urgent" and "necessary" and that it must meet the "legitimate" demands of the Syrian people.

Lakhdar Brahimi's comments in an interview with al-Arabiya television came as Syrian warplanes and ground forces pounded the country's largest city, Aleppo, with bombs and mortar rounds while soldiers clashed with rebels in the narrow streets of its old quarter, according to activists.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has told the new U.N. special envoy for Syria that Beijing is increasingly concerned about the worsening situation in the conflict-ridden Middle Eastern country.

Yang made the comments late Friday during a telephone conversation with Lakhdar Brahimi, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website.

Turkey will keep up its diplomatic efforts to protect refugees within the Syrian territory, despite the lack of an agreement at the U.N. Security Council, a Turkish diplomat told Agence France Presse Friday.

"We will continue to appeal to the international community to act," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Turkey is in talks with the United Nations on ways to shelter thousands of refugees on Syrian soil and expects the world body to take concrete steps, its foreign minister said Wednesday.

"We expect the United Nations to step in for the protection of refugees inside Syria and if possible housing them in camps there," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.