Any attempts to ship advanced Iranian missiles across Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon would likely draw a new Israeli response, and Thursday's warning by Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, if more than rhetoric, could signal a further escalation.

Israel has largely tried to stay out of Syria's 26-month-old conflict. It never acknowledged the airstrikes, but Israeli officials have signaled Israel's air force would strike against any shipments of strategic missiles that might be bound for Hezbollah.

Israeli officials said the Lebanese militia has tens of thousands of rockets, but that most of them are unguided. Israeli officials said the shipments targeted twice last week included precision-guided missiles.

Israel and Hezbollah fought repeatedly, including in a month-long war in 2006. During that war, Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets at Israel.

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In a one-hour speech to the nation in which he appeared confident and relaxed, Assad ignored international demands for him to step down and said he is ready to hold a dialogue but only with those "who have not betrayed Syria." He offered a national reconciliation conference, elections and a new constitution but demanded regional and Western countries stop funding and arming rebels trying to overthrow him first.

The proposal, however, is unlikely to win acceptance from Syria's opposition forces, including rebels on the ground, who have repeatedly said they will accept nothing less than the president's departure, dismissing any kind of settlement that leaves him in the picture. On top of that, Assad's new initiative is reminiscent of symbolic changes and concessions that his government made earlier in the uprising, which were rejected at the time as too little too late.

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Gunmen loyal to opposite sides in Syria's civil war battled Wednesday in the streets of the Lebanese city of Tripoli. The fighting has killed six people and wounded nearly 60 since Monday, security officials said.

The bloodshed is a sign of just how vulnerable Lebanon is to getting sucked into the Syrian crisis. The countries share a porous border and a complex web of political and sectarian ties that is easily enflamed.

Among the 17 Lebanese men who turned up dead in Syria last week were Bilal al-Ghoul and his childhood friend, Malek Haj Deeb, both 20. Malek's older brother, Jihad, said the two men sympathized with the rebellion, but they were not fighters.

"Malek used to see the videos of dead Syrians and cry," Jihad Haj Deeb told The Associated Press in Tripoli, as gunfire and explosions echoed near his home in the poor neighborhood of Mankoubeen. "He used to say, `May Bashar fall soon, God willing.'"

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Instead of civil war, Assad said, Syria is facing "terrorism through proxies," referring to foreign backing of the rebellion against his regime.

In a sign of relentless ferocity of the conflict, a surge of more than 5,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey overnight to flee violence, a Turkish official at the government's crisis management center said Friday. The new exodus raises to 120,000 the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules.

Syria's uprising began in March 2011 as mostly peaceful protests against Assad's rule, but as rebels took up arms in the face of a bloody repression of the protests, the conflict morphed into a civil war. The fighting has taken on grim sectarian tones, with the predominantly Sunni rebels battling government forces loyal to a regime dominated by minority Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

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Mohammed Osama Laham, brother of Parliament Speaker Jihad Laham, was killed in the Damascus neighborhood of Midan, the SANA news agency said.

It was the latest in a wave of assassinations targeting Syrian officials, army officers and other prominent supporters of President Bashar Assad's regime. Four of the president's top security aides were killed in a rebel bombing of state security headquarters in Damascus on July 18.

The killing came a day after some of the most intense fighting in Damascus in months as rebels wage a civil war to unseat Assad.

U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said what is happening in Syria is a "big catastrophe." In remarks published Tuesday in the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat, he said the international efforts now are focused on getting a "binding resolution by the (U.N.) Security Council" to start a political process that will lead to change.

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Dozens of people were wounded in the attack. While the motive was not immediately known, many Lebanese quickly raised the possibility it was connected to the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Tensions have already been rising in Lebanon over the war, and clashes have erupted between supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad and backers of the rebellion against his regime. The office of an anti-Syrian Christian political party is located near the site of Friday's bombing, though it was not immediately clear if it was the intended target.

The blast ripped through a narrow street at mid-afternoon in Beirut's mainly Christian Achrafieh neighborhood, an area packed with cafes and shops. The street was transformed into a swath of rubble, twisted metal and charred vehicles.

Bloodied residents fled their homes while others tried to help the seriously wounded. One little girl, apparently unconscious and bleeding from her head, was carried to an ambulance in the arms of rescue workers, her white sneakers stained with blood.

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The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said four missiles fired by two Syrian jets hit a rugged and remote area on the edge of the Lebanese border town of Arsal. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that the warplanes fired three missiles that fell on the outskirts of Arsal about 500 meters (yards) from the border between the two countries.

"I heard several explosions and saw four clouds of dust billowing from the area," Arsal resident Nayeh Izzedine said by telephone referring to the border. "I don't know if it was an air raid but there was a plane in the sky."

He added that the town had been quiet two hours after the 10 a.m. attack.

The Syrian forces were believed to be chasing rebels in the area, which has been the site of clashes in the past between opposition fighters battling Syrian troops just on the other side of the frontier. Lebanese armed forces have in the past detained people in the region caught trying to smuggle weapons into Syria from Lebanon.

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Syrian rebels had been in control of Tel Chehab, along the Jordanian border, for months despite repeated assaults by pro-government troops, local activist Mohammed Abu Houran said.

In the latest clashes, hundreds of Syrian soldiers backed by 20 tanks assaulted Tel Chehab, according to Abu Houran and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rebels fought back but were pushed out, activists said.

A Jordanian army officer living just across the border said by telephone that he had heard heavy shelling starting early in the morning, but that it had subsided by midday.

"It sounded like the shelling came from tanks and armored vehicles," said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because army regulations forbid him from being identified in press accounts.

The activists did not have casualty figures. Abu Houran said at least 2,000 refugees were waiting in the town for the chance to cross the border. Most of them were staying in two schools.

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Two activist groups, The Local Coordination Committees and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the plane was seen crashing near the Abu Zuhour air base. Idlib-based activist Alaa al-Din said rebels shot it down with heavy machine guns.

A video broadcast on the pan-Arab satellite station Al-Arabiya shows what appears to be a person parachuting and rebels cheering and claiming he was the pilot. The video's authenticity could not be verified.

The government had no immediate comment, and the report couldn't be independently confirmed.

Over the past month, President Bashar Assad's regime has been relying much more heavily on air power, escalating the fight with rebels as its ground forces have been stretched thin fighting on many fronts including Syria's two largest cities — Damascus and Aleppo. The military has conducted air raids on the northern regions of Idlib and Aleppo near Turkey as well as the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

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The clashes erupted near Republican Guard housing compounds and bases in the suburbs of Qudsaya and Hammah, about five miles (eight kilometers) from central Damascus, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said at least six people were killed in the fighting.

The Republican Guard, which is commanded by Assad's younger brother Maher, is tasked with protecting the capital, the seat of the regime's power.

The fighting suggested growing boldness by rebels as the more than 15-month effort to oust Assad turns increasingly militarized.

Clashes erupt regularly in the suburbs between troops and rebels, but Assad's forces have firm control of Damascus and it is very rare for fighting to take place near the Republican Guard bases. It was unclear what prompted the clashes or how close they were to the heavily guarded compounds.

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Activists said soldiers, tanks and armored personnel carriers were deployed in restive cities, despite Assad's assurances to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that military and police operations had stopped. The harsh statements by President Barack Obama and European leaders also appeared to have no immediate effect.

Asked Friday whether the U.N. chief believes Assad when he says the violence has stopped, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said: "He believes that any claim that violence has stopped needs to be verified."

"We continue to hear some disturbing reports that we would need to look into," Haq said. "We want to be able to verify indeed that violence has stopped. And, of course, for that to happen we would like to have access for our human rights team."

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari said a U.N. humanitarian assessment team would arrive in Damascus on Saturday.

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The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said most of Monday's deaths were in Hama, which has been the target of a heavy military operation since Sunday.

The bloodshed brought a fresh wave of international pressure as Italy recalled its ambassador to Damascus on Tuesday, citing "horrible repression" of citizens.

The top U.S. military officer said Washington wants to pressure the Syrian regime politically and diplomatically. But when asked about the prospect of U.S. involvement in Syria, Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said "there's no indication whatsoever that the Americans, that we would get involved directly with respect to this."

The current crackdown appears aimed at preventing protests from swelling during Ramadan, when Muslims throng mosques for the special nightly prayers after breaking their dawn-to-dusk fast. The gatherings could then turn into large protests throughout the country.

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Sunday was one of the bloodiest days since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian rule began in mid-March. Six Syrian rights groups said in a joint statement that 74 people were killed throughout the country, 55 of them from Hama and neighboring villages.

The European Union was preparing new sanctions targeting Syria, the French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Monday.

"Residents are committed to resistance through peaceful means," Hama-based activist Omar Hamawi told The Associated Press by telephone Monday. The city's streets are full of barriers as well as thousands of men "who are ready to defend the city with stones," he said. "People will not surrender this time. We Will not allow a repetition of what happened in 1982," he said.

Hamawi said residents in villages and towns around Hama have blocked roads and highways leading to the city in order to prevent the military from bringing supplies. He added that dozens of checkpoints were set up and activists have blocked the highway linking the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, with the capital Damascus.

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The Amnesty report focused on a crackdown in Talkalakh, a town near the Lebanese border that was overrun by army tank units, security forces and pro-regime gunmen after weeks of protests calling for the ouster of President Bashar Assad. Some activists place the Talkalakh death toll as high as 36. Thousands of people also fled to Lebanon to escape the offensive.

The report by the London-based group could boost international pressure on Assad's regime as it presses attacks on various fronts against a four-month-old uprising, including sending more forces this week against a string of towns along the Turkish border seen as potential anti-government strongholds.

Amnesty called on the U.N. Security Council to refer the case to the International Criminal Court.

"The accounts we have heard from witnesses to events in (Talkalakh) paint a deeply disturbing picture of systematic, targeted abuses to crush dissent," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.

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Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said he was told by Hama hospital officials that most of the wounded suffered shots from pump action rifles used by security forces.

A major operation in Hama, a city with a history of militancy against the Assad regime, could lead to an outcry.

In 1982, Assad's late father and predecessor, Hafez Assad, ordered his troops to crush a rebellion by Sunni fundamentalists, killing between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights groups say.

"There is some kind of a siege on the city. They are closing all roads leading to Hama," said Syria-based rights activist Mustafa Osso.

Osso said the move came amid a reshuffle of security officials in Hama. On Saturday, Assad fired Hama's governor, Ahmed Abdul-Aziz.

Syria's state-run news agency hasn't said why the governor was dismissed. But some activists said they feared Abdul-Aziz, viewed as sympathetic to the demonstrators, was dismissed to give freer rein to the security forces in the city.

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The unrest also appeared to be spilling over into neighboring Lebanon. A senior member of a Lebanese political party allied with Syria and an off-duty soldier were killed Friday after gunmen opened fire and lobbed a grenade near hundreds of people holding an anti-Assad protest in northern Lebanon, a security official said in Beirut.

The protests in Syria came hours after Syrian troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships seized control early Friday of another northwestern town in the latest military operation to quell the dissent.

Since the protests erupted in mid-March, Assad has unleashed the military to crush street demonstrations. Human rights activists say more than 1,400 Syrians have been killed and 10,000 detained.

"What is our guilt? We just demanded freedom and democracy nothing else," said Mohamed, who spoke to The Associated Press from a refugee camp in neighboring Turkey and asked to be identified only by his first name. He and other refugees offered fresh accounts of summary executions to suppress the pro-democracy movement.

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The move appears to be an attempt by Bashar Assad to show that he is serious about investigating the bloodshed.

State-run SANA news agency says the ban was imposed on Brig. Gen. Atef Najib, who ran the security department in the southern province of Daraa. The uprising erupted there in mid-March after the arrest of 15 teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti.

Judge Mohammed Deeb al-Muqatran of the Special Judicial Committee says the travel ban is precautionary in order for Najib to be available for questioning.

Al-Muqatran was quoted as saying on Monday that "no one has immunity, whoever he is."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BEIRUT (AP) -- A cousin of the Syrian president has been banned from traveling abroad as the government investigates into the violence gripping the country.

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An AP reporter says the army is in full control of Jisr al-Shughour.

Syria's state news agency says army units entered the town after dismantling explosives planted on roads and bridges. The report said there were heavy clashes as troops moved in.

A resident who fled the nearly empty town Sunday just ahead of the fighting agreed that the town was fully under military control.

The Local Coordination Committees, which documents Syrian anti-government protests, said Jisr al-Shughour was attacked from the south and east by troops in about 200 vehicles, including tanks. It said blasts were heard as helicopters clattered overhead.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BEIRUT (AP) -- Under the rattle of heavy gunfire and loud explosions, Syrian army troops and tanks attacked a restive northwestern city from two sides Sunday, extending the crackdown on a region that is historically hostile to the authoritarian regime.

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The town of Jisr al-Shughour emptied as its residents crossed olive groves and traveled gravel roads, trying to get away from the tanks and elite forces surrounding them, a resident and activist said. Turkey's foreign minister said more than 2,400 Syrians had crossed the border, which was opened for refugees.

As more Syrians took up temporary residence in tents and with Turkish relatives, the uprising that targeted President Bashar Assad drew increasing scrutiny abroad.

In Geneva, Navi Pillay, the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Human Rights, accused Syria of trying to "bludgeon its population into submission" by attacking anti-government protesters with snipers, tanks and artillery.

A man who stayed behind in Jisr al-Shughour said the town was all but empty and people in a nearby village had warned that hundreds of soldiers were massing along with 27 tanks and 50 armored personnel carriers.

"It seems they are ready to launch the attack," he said, asking that his name not be used for fear of reprisals.

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The latest bloodshed suggests that crackdowns by President Bashar Assad's regime show no signs of easing despite international sanctions and condemnations from the U.S. and its allies.

Excluding Libya -- where battles between Moammar Gadhafi's forces and his opponents have left possibly thousands dead since February -- Syria's death toll is now higher than any country that has been gripped by uprisings.

During Egypt's 18-day revolt that toppled long-serving President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, at least 846 Egyptians died. In Tunisia -- which sparked the region's upheavals -- an estimated 219 people were killed before President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stepped down in January.

A crackdown by authorities in Yemen, has left more than 150 protesters dead, opposition groups say. The number killed in Bahrain, Oman and other places shaken by unrest is far lower.

Syria's bloodshed also stands out because of its relative small population: about 22 million people compared with 80 million in Egypt. Tunisia has about 10.5 million people.

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