At least four members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been killed in the Syrian town of Qusayr, where the regime launched an assault Sunday, a source close to the group told AFP. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said four fighters from Lebanon's Bekaa region were killed in the town in Syria's central province of Homs. The men were reportedly killed overnight, shortly before Syrian forces began a long-expected assault on the town of Qusayr, a key stronghold of the rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi on Sunday ruled out negotiating with the kidnappers of three policemen and four soldiers who appeared to plead for their release in an online video. The abductions on Thursday in the Sinai Peninsula prompted angry police to shut down border crossings with Gaza and Israel, piling the pressure on Morsi to secure the hostages' release. "There are no negotiations with criminals and the awe of the state will be preserved," Morsi was cited as saying by the official MENA news agency.

The United Arab Emirates on Sunday called for political action to stop what it called "the repressive machine" in Damascus, ahead of an international conference aimed at resolving the Syrian conflict. "We call on all concerned parties to take decisive political action to stop the repressive machine in Damascus," UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said at a news conference with his Australian counterpart Bob Carr. "The international community cannot remain silent and inactive about the humanitarian situation" affecting Syrians, he said.