Syria's leading opposition figure Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib called on Wednesday in a letter addressed to Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah to withdraw his fighters from Syria, and to help ensure the conflict does not spiral into a sectarian war. "Hezbollah's intervention in Syria has complicated matters deeply, and I expected you, given your political and social stature, to play a more positive role" in the conflict raging in Syria, Khatib said in an open letter posted on Facebook.

Fierce clashes pitted Syrian rebels against troops and fighters loyal to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah in several villages near Qusayr on the border with Lebanon on Tuesday, a watchdog said. Meanwhile, a military source told AFP the army expects to seize the town of Qusayr, a rebel stronghold, "within days." "The army is leading the campaign on the northern and eastern fronts, and Hezbollah is leading the fight on the southern and western fronts," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Syria's main opposition National Coalition called on Lebanon to control its frontiers, after rebels said they fired across the border in retaliation against the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah. "The Syrian Coalition calls on the Lebanese government to exert control over its borders and put an immediate stop to Hezbollah's military operations on Syrian territory," the group said late Monday.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah condemned on Friday a call by U.S. President Barack Obama for the militant Shi'ite group to be designated a terrorist organisation following a bomb attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year. The European Union has so far resisted U.S. and Israeli pressure to blacklist Hezbollah, but those demands are likely to increase after a court in Cyprus convicted a Hezbollah member on Thursday of plotting against Israeli interests on the island.