Russia on Friday denied holding discussions with other nations on a political transformation in Syria that would include the departure of President Bashar Assad.

"I read somewhere today that supposedly, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said something along the lines of the United States and Russia discussing a political transformation in Syria after the departure of Bashar Assad," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.

China said Thursday it disapproved of "one-sided" sanctions and pressure on Syria after France raised the prospect of a new raft of punitive measures against President Bashar Assad's regime.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Wednesday said he would consult with Western allies to prepare tough new sanctions against Assad's regime, as battles between troops and rebels rage in Syria.

A Special Tribunal for Lebanon Trial Chamber hearing opened for the second day on Thursday as the legal representative of victims in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination called for redress and justice.

The victims “seek the truth, expiation, redress and justice and they have applied to this tribunal to give effect to the rights which nobody seriously challenges that they have,” said Peter Haynes.

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday held back support for an African intervention force in Mali, where rebels and al-Qaida allies have taken over the north of the country.

Unrest in Mali, tensions between Sudan and South Sudan, a coup in Guinea-Bissau and Somalia's troubled transitional government dominated annual talks between the U.N. Council and the African Union's Peace and Security Council.

The March 14 opposition coalition intends to stir the issue of Syrian violations of Lebanese sovereignty during the next national dialogue session later this month, high-ranking sources said Thursday.

The sources told An Nahar daily that the opposition representatives at the all-party talks will bring up the issue on June 25 when top Lebanese leaders convene for the second time since the dialogue resumed under President Michel Suleiman last Monday.

Russia's arms export agency said Wednesday its deliveries to Syria were in line with U.N. regulations but declined to comment specifically on U.S. claims that it was sending attack helicopters to the regime.

Rosoboronexport "does not supply weapons and military technology in contradiction with U.N. Security Council security requirements and other international agreements," an agency spokesman told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

China said Wednesday the situation in Syria had reached a "critical juncture" and expressed its "great concern", as a U.N. official said the country was now in a full-scale civil war.

World powers are groping to find a way to end the bloodshed in Syria with the toll growing daily despite a ceasefire that should have gone into effect from April 12, and there are reports of children being used as human shields.

Beijing said Wednesday Chinese companies were not involved in shipping missile launch vehicles to North Korea last year, denying a Japanese newspaper report that accused it of breaking U.N. resolutions.

The Asahi Shimbun report -- based on Japanese government sources -- is the most strident of recent claims that China has been involved in helping to arm its wayward ally Pyongyang.

The Syrian army killed at least 23 civilians in two protest cities on Saturday, a watchdog said, as an international outcry mounted over a massacre in a central village.

U.N. observers who visited the village of Al-Kubeir, near Hama, said they witnessed blood on the walls and "a strong stench of burnt flesh," prompting Western governments to launch a push for tough new sanctions against Damascus.

China on Friday condemned the latest civilian killings in Syria, but refused to back a call by U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan to increase the pressure on the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Annan told the U.N. Security Council Thursday he feared the crisis would "spiral out of control" unless there is more international pressure on Assad.