Less than 100 men evacuated from besieged, rebel-held areas of the Syrian city of Homs earlier this month are still being held for questioning, governor Talal Barazi said Thursday.

He told Agence France Presse that the detainees were "draft evaders, deserters or common law criminals."

The Syrian opposition's interim prime minister said Thursday that it was still possible to negotiate an end to his country's bloody conflict despite the failure of U.N.-led peace talks.

Ahmed Tomeh was responding to reporters' questions in Berlin about his hopes for peace after the acrimonious breakdown of the "Geneva II" talks earlier this month.

President Michel Suleiman noted Thursday that "those who are currently objecting" against the Baabda Declaration "will start calling for its implementation in the future,” stressing that he would leave office even if the presidential vote was not held on time.

“Believe me, those who are currently objecting against the Declaration will start calling for its implementation later on,” Suleiman said in an interview with the al-Nashra magazine that is published by the Beirut Bar Association.

Pakistan on Thursday strongly denied it had any plans to send weapons to Syrian rebels, following reports that Saudi Arabia was holding talks with it about arming the opposition.

A Saudi source said Sunday that Riyadh was seeking Pakistani anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets for forces fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

Syria's army is preparing an assault on a key rebel bastion near Damascus, a pro-regime newspaper said Thursday, as the opposition reported a "massacre" of civilians near Damascus.

"The Syrian army is preparing to launch a new phase" on the town of Yabrud near the border with Lebanon in its offensive in the Qalamun mountains, al-Watan reported.

Two unknown assailants on a motorcycle threw a hand grenade at an army post in the northern city of Tripoli on Wednesday evening, the army command said in a communique.

According to the statement, issued on Thursday, soldiers opened fire at the motorcycle, wounding one of the offenders.

Car thefts in Lebanon have become a thriving business for sides seeking to carry out terrorist attacks in the country and abroad, said al-Joumhouria newspaper Thursday in a report examining this phenomenon.

Car theft has become an organized crime in Lebanon as a number of gangs that do not know each other carry out these crimes.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed on Thursday that he is following up the case of the abducted Lebanese in Syria and in Nigeria, pointing out that he will cooperate with the President and the Premier in all matters.

“I discussed the matter of the abducted Lebanese in Nigeria with ambassador Amos Oluwole Idowu and General Security Chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim,” Bassil said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

The United States on Wednesday accused the Syrian government of undermining the Geneva peace talks by rounding up and arresting the relatives of opposition delegates.

A second round of U.N.-led peace talks, dubbed Geneva II, broke down in acrimony earlier this month, threatening international attempts to mediate an end to Syria's vicious civil war.

A jihadist group in Syria said Wednesday that Christians in the city of Raqa will have to pay taxes and hold religious rituals behind closed doors, under a set of rules.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), listed 12 rules which made up an "agreement" with Christians in the northern city to provide "protection."