U.N. experts have said that arms trafficking out of Libya is fueling conflict, insecurity and terrorism on several continents as they investigate the alleged transfer of weapons to 14 countries, including Lebanon.

Since civil war ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, the experts said "Libya has become a primary source of illicit weapons."

Humanitarian workers are scrambling to fill a void left by the collapse of governments in three of the world's hotspots amid an unprecedented demand for help in the past year.

In Syria, the Central African Republic and South Sudan, the World Health Organization is having to step in with other humanitarian groups to provide basic health services that would normally be delivered by a functioning government.

Syria has decided to close its embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia because they have refused to accept the accreditations of its envoys, diplomats posted in Damascus said on Wednesday.

"Syria's embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are to close because these countries have been refusing to accredit the diplomats sent by Damascus since the start of the crisis," one of the sources said.

Syria's President Bashar Assad has signed a new law regulating the entry of Arabs and foreigners into the war-torn country, newspapers said Wednesday.

"Any person entering or leaving Syria must have a valid passport or document... with a visa issued by one of our diplomatic missions or consulates abroad," reads the text, approved by parliament.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon appealed to the United States and Russia Wednesday to "re-energize" talks aimed at resolving the bloody civil war in Syria as it enters its fourth year.

The U.N.-led peace talks, dubbed Geneva II, broke down on February 15 when a second round ended with no new date set for them to reconvene.

Once hailed as the heroes of Syria's revolution, Homs' besieged, starved and abandoned rebels are now defending a shattered enclave, fearing their uprising will die if they are defeated.

Homs was dubbed "the capital of the revolution" against President Bashar Assad after the uprising began exactly three years ago, when it was the scene of peaceful mass rallies and sit-ins that defined the early months of the revolt.

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Wednesday that the capabilities of the Lebanese army should be fortified, pointing out that the military can receive any type of weapons it needs.

“There are no banned arms,” Suleiman said after a short visit to the Headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the southern town of Naqoura accompanied by his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is making a rare trip outside the capital to meet people displaced by the country's three-year-old civil war, state media reported on Wednesday.

"President Assad is inspecting conditions for the displaced in Damascus province," state television said.

Lebanese Sky News Arabia cameraman Samir Kassab, who has gone missing in Syria in October last year, is reported to be held captive in the northern province of al-Riqqa, media reports said on Wednesday.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, Kassab is held in Syria's al-Riqqa along with the Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia crew, who were abducted with the Lebanese cameraman, and several other journalists and French doctors.

A U.S. defense official has warned that extremist groups could carry out terrorist attacks against the Lebanese army and state institutions, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

The Pentagon official, who was not named, expressed fears that the terrorist networks would attack the military and some government buildings after making several threats in that regard.