Syria has nearly completed surrendering its chemical weapons stockpile, a joint task force in charge of the operation said Thursday, as U.N. Security Council members called for a fresh probe into alleged gas attacks.

"Today's operation brings the total of chemical material removed and destroyed to 92.5 percent," the combined Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-U.N. task team said in a statement.

The army arrested Thursday in Arsal ten Syrian nationals who were trying to enter into Lebanon with fake identification papers, amid a strict security plan that troops have been implementing in the region since more than two weeks.

“The Lebanese Army apprehended on the Wadi Hmayyed checkpoint in the Arsal region 10 Syrians who were trying to enter the country with fake IDs,” state-run National News Agency reported.

A businessman who studied in the United States on Thursday became the second hopeful to register for Syria's controversial June presidential election which is expected to return incumbent Bashar Assad to office.

Like the first would-be candidate to declare, Hassan Abdullah al-Nouri is a member of the regime-tolerated opposition.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that his country will support the Lebanese army's efforts to confront terrorism, considering that the presidential elections in Lebanon will unify the country.

“Russia will fortify its military cooperation with Lebanon and will beef up the defense capabilities of Lebanese Armed Forces,” Lavrov said in a joint press conference with his visiting Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil.

An air strike on a market on Thursday killed at least 21 people, including three children, in a village of the north Syrian province of Aleppo, a monitoring group said.

The deadly raid comes amid a massive aerial offensive targeting opposition-held areas across Aleppo city and province that began in December 15.

Controversial amendments to Jordan's anti-terrorism law seek to curb the influence of homegrown al-Qaida affiliated jihadists fighting the regime of the kingdom's northern neighbor Syria, analysts said.

New articles added to the law approved by MPs on Tuesday deem "joining or attempting to join armed or terrorist groups, or recruiting or attempting to recruit people to join these groups" acts of terrorism.

Access for foreign aid for millions of Syrians desperately in need has not improved, violating a Security Council resolution passed two months ago, the U.N. chief said in a report Wednesday.

In February, the Security Council passed the first humanitarian resolution of the three-year civil war, demanding that the government and armed opposition allow aid to reach civilians.

British police reached out to Muslim women on Thursday in an attempt to prevent young people going to fight in Syria, after a sharp rise in arrests related to the conflict.

Counter-terrorism officials launched a national campaign to raise awareness of the risks of travelling to Syria, especially for those who just want to offer humanitarian aid.

Members of the U.N. Security Council called Wednesday for an investigation into new claims of a chlorine gas attack on a rebel bastion in Syria, expressing concern over the reports.

The 15-member organization was briefed behind closed doors by Sigrid Kaag, who coordinates a mission in Syria to oversee the removal of its chemical weapons stockpile by June 30.

The heads of five U.N. agencies on Wednesday made an impassioned call to both sides in Syria's conflict to allow aid deliveries countrywide, end siege warfare and halt indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

"The war escalates in many areas. The humanitarian situation deteriorates day after day," the leaders of the U.N. humanitarian aid office and its children's, refugee, food and health divisions said in a joint statement.