Stefano Rellandini / Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI waves to faithfuls from his Pope-mobile upon his arrival to conduct an open-air mass service at Beirut City Center Waterfront, Sunday.

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Pope Benedict XVI held a huge open-air mass on Beirut’s waterfront on Sunday, urging Christians to be peacemakers amid the “grim trail of death and destruction” around the world.

He addressed a crowd of 350,000 people as part of his three-day visit to Lebanon, which has been overshadowed by regional fury among Muslims over a U.S.-made internet video insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

"May God grant to your country, to Syria and to the Middle East, the gift of peaceful hearts, the silencing of weapons and the cessation of all violence,'' the pope said in a prayer.

The first faithful made their way to Beirut’s waterfront – close to the front line in the 1975-1990 civil war - at 7 a.m. local time Sunday (midnight Saturday ET) chanting “Be-ne-di-cto” while waving Vatican flags and wearing white baseball caps that read “I give you my peace” in Arabic.  

The turnout for the Pope’s message of peace was huge, despite intense heat and humidity.

Lebanese hope pope can 'bring peace' to the region

In his homily, the Pope urged Christians in the Middle East to work against what he called the "the grim trail of death and destruction" in the world.

"I pray in particular that the Lord will grant to this region of the Middle East servants of peace and reconciliation, so that all people can live in peace and with dignity," the 85-year old pontiff said. "This is an essential testimony which Christians must render here, in cooperation with all people of good will. I appeal to all of you to be peacemakers, wherever you find yourselves."

His call for peace was addressed in particular to neighboring Syria, extending a special prayer to those suffering the consequence of the raging civil war.

The Pope arrived in his iconic bullet-proof, glass-encased ‘Popemobile’ and sat on a big stage shaped like a Cedar tree - the symbol of Lebanon - in front of a sea of Middle East Christians.

Bilal Hussein / AP

An aerial view of the Lebanese capital's waterfront where Pope Benedict XVI held a mass in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday.

About 35 per cent of the region’s Christians live in Lebanon – the largest single Christian community in the area.

“We hope that peace will reign in the Middle East…we need it,” said Elias, an accountant from Beirut.

“It was a pleasure to have him in Lebanon,” resident Roni Nakur said immediately after the Mass. “Here we have both Muslims and Christians, and the Pope helps us be together.”

PhotoBlog: Pope says multi-faith Lebanon should be model for Middle East

Christine, a technology teacher, traveled from Egypt to see the Pope. “I am so happy,” she said. “We need peace…Egypt needs peace, all the world needs peace. I hope it comes soon”.

Security was tight in Beirut throughout his visit, but particularly visible on Sunday. Lebanese army troops patrolled the streets in armored personnel carriers and set-up roadblocks, while army helicopters hovered overhead.

During his visit, the pope said that Lebanon's coexistence of Christians and Muslims continue to be an example to all the Middle East countries.

Lebanon is increasingly viewed as a model of religious tolerance after years of civil war and sectarian violence.

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Mohamed Azakir / Reuters

Billboards and flags erected by Hezbollah depicting Pope Benedict XVI decorate a bridge on the main airport road in Beirut in preparation for the pope's arrival tomorrow. The billboard reads: "Hezbollah welcomes the Pope to the country of co-existence."

BEIRUT – Pope Benedict XVI was all over Beirut before he even landed there. 

Billboards, posters and flags bearing his image pave line the road that connects Rafic Hariri International Airport to the city center. “Welcome,” the signs say, in both Arabic and French, the two predominant languages here. 

But among all the greetings, one stands out. 

Hanging from a bridge next to a picture of a smiling Pope Benedict, one billboard in French reads: “Hezbollah welcomes the pope to the country of co-existence." 

Hezbollah, the Shiite Islamic political and paramilitary party classified by the United States as a terrorist group, is the most powerful of a myriad of religious groups in a country that has become an example of religious co-habitation after decades of sectarian violence and civil war.

For the 85-year-old pope, Hezbollah’s blessing was probably just what the Vatican was praying for.  

With civil war still raging only a few miles across the border in Syria, and the recent wave of violence in the Middle East caused by the anti-Islamic video produced in the United States, this is probably the most sensitive trip ever attempted by the pope.

Largest Christian community in the Middle East
The choice of Lebanon for the pope’s fourth trip to the Middle East since 2005 is strongly symbolic. 

About 40 percent of Lebanon’s population of 4.1 million is Christian, making it the country with the largest Christian community in the Middle East.  

Ali Hashisho / Reuters

A Muslim Hezbollah supporter crosses a street as people wait for the car carrying Pope Benedict XVI outside Beirut international airport on Friday.

It’s also an example of how Sunni, Shiite and Christians can not only live side by side in peace, but also share power in the government – an aspect the pope has not missed.  

“The successful way the Lebanese all live together surely demonstrates to the whole Middle East, and to the rest of the world that, within a nation, there can exist cooperation between the various churches,” Benedict said upon his arrival at Beirut’s airport Friday. 

In downtown Beirut, Lebanese from all religious backgrounds seem to be united in their excitement about his visit. 

“I think the pope’s visit is going to make a big difference, especially in the view of what’s happening these days, like the protests,” said Mustafa Zaher, a Muslim student. “He is coming for peace and bringing Muslims and Christians closer, that’s the important thing. Peace… we need peace.”

Nancy Sayah, a Maronite Christian agreed: “We are very excited about the pope’s visit because it brings all Christians together from the political parties, as well as the Muslims,” said Sayah. “It’s a peaceful visit and hopefully will bring peace for the region.”

Danger zone
Instead of spreading his usual message of peace from the safety of a Vatican window, this time the pope will deliver it only a few miles from a major conflict zone. The border with neighboring Syria is only 30 miles from Beirut, and expectations are mounting about what Benedict might say to try to ease violence there. 

Mohamed Azakir / Reuters

Banners erected by Hezbollah depicting Pope Benedict XVI as well as Lebanese and Vatican flags decorate a main airport road in Beirut. These banners read:

While it is widely expected that he’ll wait until the open-air mass he’ll lead on Beirut’s waterfront on Sunday to make his most vocal calls for peace in Syria, Benedict already told reporters on the plane from Rome that weapons imported into the war-torn country are “a grave sin.”     

“The import of weapons has to finally stop,'' Benedict told journalists on the plane, according to Reuters. “Without the import of arms the war cannot continue. Instead of importing weapons, which is a grave sin, we have to import ideas of peace and creativity.”

He also told reporters that the Arab Spring uprisings against authoritarian regimes were "a positive thing. There is a desire for more democracy, more freedoms, more cooperation and renewal.”

But the uprisings could also be a double-edge sword for Christians in the Middle East. 

While the Arab Spring has brought a glimpse of democracy in countries that were run by dictators, the Islamist governments that replaced them have so far raised cause for concern for Christians. 

For instance, Syrian Christians had enjoyed relative religious freedom under President Bashar al-Assad’s secular regime, but now they are reporting increasing waves of sectarian violence and discrimination, and are starting to flee en masse. 

Coptic Christians in Egypt have similarly complained about being discriminated against and being the target of several attacks on their churches. (ADD LINK) 

“The visit to Lebanon is important because it shows Christians they still matter, they are part of this Middle East,” said Tony Restom, a Greek Orthodox from Beirut. “So for him to make a stop in Lebanon does mean a lot for Christians – and does show Muslims that the world and the Vatican still keep an eye on this region.” 

Violence in Lebanon, too

As if the war in neighboring Syria wasn’t enough to raise concern over the pope’s safety, he lands in the Middle East only days after an anti-Islamic movie released in the U.S., believed to be produced by a California-based Coptic Christian, led to violent clashes all across the region. 

Thousands of people protesting the film in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli clashed with police Friday. One protester was killed and at least 14 people were wounded after Islamist protesters set fire to a Kentucky Fried Chicken and tried to attack a government building. 

Not the welcome the pope probably hoped for, on the day he came in peace.  

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Bilal Hussein / AP

A Lebanese man smokes a water pipe outside a coffee shop in Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday - the same day a smoking ban in restaurants went into effect.

BEIRUT – On a recent warm summer night in the heart of Beirut, a few dozen people gathered in a city square to attend a music concert launching a public awareness campaign. In a country that loves music – free concerts can often draw big crowds. But surprisingly few had turned out.

Perhaps the unpopularity of the new public awareness campaign was the reason why.

On Monday, a ban on smoking in closed places like restaurants, cafes, pubs and night went into effect – leaving many smokers and business owners fuming. 

(Ironically, I caught a glimpse of one of the volunteers working for the “No-Smoking” campaign at the concert taking a break from the heat and loud music by doing what? Lighting up a cigarette just beside the stage.)

In a country where smoking – and that means cigarettes, cigars and “nargilehs” (traditional flavored water pipes) – are part of the culture and lifestyle, many have denounced the ban on smoking as a colossal example of the government’s failure to tackle more pressing priorities in the country.

At the popular Grand Café, the aroma of water pipes filled the air. Few of the customers I spoke with are happy about the ban.

“The government has a million problems; this is not the main one. Let them go collect the garbage on the streets and organize the traffic around the city,” said Ahmed, a 27-year-old smoker who just gave his first name.

Smoking culture
How big of an issue is smoking in Lebanon?   

The World Health Organization estimates that close to 39 percent of adults in Lebanon smoke daily. That’s more than Egypt where 19 percent of adults smoke, but which does not have a smoking ban (at least one that is respected and enforced).

In this case, Lebanon is more on par with countries like France and Spain where close to 30 percent of adults smoke – even with tight smoking bans in place. Asian countries remain among the highest percentage of smokers in the world.

In a long list of things that divide people in this country, including the Syrian revolution, domestic politics and more, the smoking ban has proved to be the latest polarizing issue.

On one side are supporters of the ban – mostly civil society organizations, health officials and lawmakers who drafted it. Opponents of the law have been mostly businessmen – the owners of cafes and restaurants.

Bilal Hussein / AP

Restaurants employees hold Arabic placards that read, "the smoking ban is more important that kidnappings?" left, and "impose more laws and the country will go bankrupt," right, during a sit-in to protest the state imposition of a smoking ban in closed public places in Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday.

Businesses fear losses
The popular Falamenki Café hosts smokers 24 hours a day – but many fear the ban will undoubtedly affect businesses. Much of the commercial traffic is driven by smokers and snackers. The problem is that there is no designated smoking section.

Lina, a furniture design retailer who also smokes, supports the ban but believes special licenses should be issued to cafes. In the winter, places like Falamenki take the smoking indoors, making it extremely uncomfortable for non-smoking patrons. Now with this ban, smokers will not be allowed to light up indoors and many believe it will decrease business big time.  

“In Europe, smoking bars are allowed, but only with special licenses," Lina said, adding that’s what she thinks should be the case in Lebanon, too. “So owners can apply to get it before they open a bar.” 

The Association of Restaurant Owners in Lebanon commissioned a study by Ernst and Young that found the ban on smoking could have a significant impact on the country’s GDP and its tourism, according to a local media report. 

The study found that the ban could decrease revenue by as much as $280 million for restaurants, pubs and nightclubs. The study also claimed that tourism revenue could drop by as much as $46 million. Much of Lebanon tourism is driven by its relaxed lifestyle culture where tourists frequent cafes, bars and restaurants.

Government should tackle bigger tobacco issue
Supporters of the ban say this is a public health issue. They cite examples of other countries where commercial traffic actually increased after similar bans went into effect.  

In Turkey, for example, business revenues reportedly increased by as much as 5 percent after a similar ban was imposed – more people and their families went to restaurants or cafes where smoking had been prevalent, making the atmosphere uncomfortable.

But not everyone here is convinced the ban was motivated by a public health concern.

“The government should do more to make it difficult to import tobacco and put more pressure on local tobacco companies,” said Ghada, a 35-year-old smoker who gave only her first name. “Banning smoking won’t do any good for the smokers and their health, only the non-smokers.”  

She believes the government needs to do more to help fight tobacco addiction – the real cause of the smoking epidemic.  

Many fear it will only lead to more corruption as bars, restaurants and cafes will be tempted to bribe local law enforcement officials to turn a blind eye if they violate the ban.

With summer tourism drying up, the crisis in Syria widening and the threat of war between Iran and Israel looming, many Lebanese have pressing issues on the minds. But kicking back, lighting up and taking their minds off them at the local café may no longer be an option. 

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Bilal Hussein / AP

Hezbollah supporters wave Hezbollah flags, Syrian flags with a picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad (R) and pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during a rally marking the sixth anniversary of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war on July 18.

MLEETA, Lebanon – On a hill a short drive from Lebanon’s border with Israel, bright yellow and green flags lead to a museum whose theater shows footage of troops training or in combat against the backdrop of rousing music and speeches.

Visitors explore a bunker cut into the side of the mountain and once used as a war room, examine some of the weapons picked up over three decades of conflict, and survey a map of its southern neighbor Israel complete with coordinates -- all potential targets in a next war.

This museum, which guides say has already welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors, is a monument to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the powerful Iran and Syria-backed Shiite militia classified as a terrorist group by the United States.

As the stream of museum-goers shows, local support for Hezbollah holding firm, and by extension, the group’s followers remain loyal to the government of President Bashar Assad. This support remains despite Damascus’ bloody 18-month crackdown, which has sparked accusations of war crimes, on a rebellion sparked by Arab Spring movements sweeping the region

The reason for this steadfastness is simple – Syria’s continued support of Hezbollah in its struggle against  arch-enemy Israel.

“In 2006, we saw our homes destroyed and relatives killed,” Hezbollah supporter Ali Fayed said, referring to the month-long war with Israel that claimed an estimated 1,300 Lebanese lives. Around 160 Israelis were also killed during the conflict. 

Over a cup of strong Turkish coffee in the nearby village of Tibnin, Fayed said his support for the militia – and Syria – was the result of the mistreatment of his fellow Lebanese by Israeli soldiers during the 22-year occupation of Lebanese territory before withdrawing in 2000.

Then war broke out in 2006. Despite the devastation wrought throughout Lebanon during the conflict, Hezbollah, with Syrian arms and support, managed to halt the advances of the most powerful army in the region. 

The war garnered Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, widespread respect across the Arab World. Flags adorned with Hezbollah’s logo -- an arm holding an assault rifle, extending from the party’s name in green Arabic letters against a yellow background -- flies across the region and Nasrallah is now a household name.

NBC's Richard Engel answers your questions about Syria

The war solidified Hezbollah loyalists’ support for Syria and, when asked for his views on the uprising there, Fayed took a firm position.

Anwar Amro / AFP - Getty Images

Men raise their fists as they listen to a speech via videolink by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday. Nasrallah warned that the militia would make lives of Israelis

“Assad helped us in our fight against the Israelis. Those who are fighting against him want to destroy the resistance,” Fayed said, “But the resistance (against Israel) will prevail.”

The links between Hezbollah and Syria were stressed emphatically in July during a speech by Nasrallah who defended his support for the Assad regime. 

Russia warns Obama against 'violation' of law over Syria

He highlighted how Syria had been an ally against Israel, supplying Hezbollah and the Palestinian militia Hamas with weapons used during the recent wars with Israel. 

“The Syrian leadership was risking its interests and existence in order for the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine to be strong. Show me one other Arab regime that does the same,” Nasrallah declared.

“Bashar [Assad] is a good man,” said Louay Hashem, a taxi driver from the southern town of Bint Jbeil. “The people who are causing trouble in the country are the terrorists. They are sponsored by Qatar and Saudi Arabia who want to take over the country for their own interests.”

These are views repeated time and again by Hezbollah supporters, and follow the narrative of news outlets such as Al Manar, a television station affiliated with the party.

“The resistance (to Israel) is the priority for the party,” explained Nicholas Blanford, a Hezbollah expert and author of Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollah's Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel.

Clashes over Syrian conflict in Lebanon leave ten dead

“The Assad regime forms part of the axis of resistance [together with Hezbollah and Iran] and its demise would be a significant blow to the axis,” he added.

Lefteris Pitarakis / AP

A man walks past a destroyed building after it was hit by missiles from Israeli warplanes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, on Aug. 7, 2006.

According to Blanford, steadfast support by Hezbollah members for the party’s position on Syria is unsurprising considering the fact that the conflict is increasingly being seen as a regional battleground, with Hezbollah and Iran supporting the regime while Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf States back the rebels.

Further afield, Russia and China have repeatedly vetoed U.N. Security Council resolutions that Western and some Arab countries had hoped would pile pressure on Assad to end the conflict.

Fouad, a resident of Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold of Dahiyeh, who asked for his full name to be withheld, described how Syria has always been a dependable ally in the group’s conflict with Israel “unlike other traitor nations [in the region] that claim to support the resistance but in reality do not.”

Moreover, Fouad stressed the importance of Syria as a Shiite-friendly ally in a region dominated by Sunni governments.

According to Ali Wehbe, a mechanical engineering student and Hezbollah loyalist, the group supports calls by the Syrian people for regime reform, but feels that the conflict has been exploited by Western countries, Turkey and Gulf States to pursue their own agendas. 

Syrian violence spills into neighboring Lebanon

Crucially, if Assad falls many believe a key pillar in the war against Israel will disappear.

So the methods employed by the Assad regime were harsh, but understandable, Wehbe said.

“Just as the Allies had to shell Germany to rid it of Hitler and his Nazi ideology [in World War II], the methods employed by the Assad regime are a tragic but necessary evil,” he said.

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Updated at 12:00 p.m. ET: Russia rebuffed President Barack Obama's threat of unilateral action against Syria Tuesday, as officials said 2,500 refugees fled across the border into Turkey in just 24 hours – one of the highest daily refugee flows of recent weeks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking after meeting China's top diplomat, said Moscow and Beijing were committed to "the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law ... and not to allow their violation".

Obama draws 'red line' for Syria on chemical and biological weapons

Obama on Monday threatened "enormous consequences" if his Syrian counterpart used chemical or biological arms or even moved them in a menacing way.

The president used some of his strongest language yet to warn Assad not to use chemical or biological weapons – after Syria acknowledged for the first time that it had such weapons and could use them if foreign countries attacked it.

"We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is (if) we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized," he said. "That would change my calculus."

Syria 'ready to discuss' Assad's resignation, deputy PM says

"We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people," Obama said, perhaps referring to Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group, an Iranian-backed ally of Assad, or to Islamist militants.

Turkey's foreign minister has warned it can accommodate no more than 100,000 refugees and that the United Nations may need to create a "safe zone" within Syria to shelter any beyond that number.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.

Launch slideshow

Thousands of refugees
A Turkish official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 2,500 people fleeing violence in Syria had entered Turkey in the preceding 24 hours, most of them entering the southeastern Turkish province of Hatay.

Turkish journalist Mahir Zeynalov reported on Twitter that four Syrian colonels and two captains crossed the border early Wednesday.

PhotoBlog: Clashes over Syrian conflict in Lebanon leave ten dead

Turkey is now sheltering close to 70,000 Syrian refugees and is struggling to accommodate the influx, which rose after a bomb attack near the border killed eight, spreading panic.

In Lebanon, street battles between Sunnis and Alawites continued for a second night running, fueled by conflicting loyalties in the conflict across the border. The BBC reported that seven were killed and more than 70 wounded in the country's second-largest city, Tripoli.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, an Alawite, is battling largely Sunni opposition fighters. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, himself a Sunni, appealed to both sides to end the "absurd battle" in Tripoli.

In Syria itself, the army deployed tanks on a ring road surrounding Damascus on Wednesday and shelled southern neighborhoods where rebels operate, in the heaviest bombardment on the capital since the army reasserted control last month, residents said.

At least eight people were killed in the shelling, which was accompanied by an aerial bombardment, on the Kfar Souseh, Daraya, Qadam and Nahr Aisheh neighborhoods, they told Reuters.

Regional news channel Al-Jazeera reported that at least 24 people were killed across the country on Tuesday, among them women and children in Aleppo - the city over which the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) claims two-thirds control, and where a Japanese journalist was killed on Monday.

Activists: Japanese journalist killed in Aleppo

"We now control more than 60 per cent of the city of Aleppo, and each day we take control of new districts," said Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, a colonel with the FSA. He went on to list some 30 districts which he claimed were under FSA control, including about half of the embattled neighborhood of Salaheddin.

But a security source in Damascus rejected the claims, according to the AFP news agency, calling them "completely false".

Likened to Iraq invasion
Syrian soldiers killed a journalist sympathetic to the rebels during a raid in Damascus on Wednesday. Mosaab al-Odaallah, who worked for the state-run Tishreen newspaper, was shot at point-blank range at his home by troops conducting house-to-house raids in the southern Nahr Eisha district of the capital, opposition activists said.

Massoud Akko, head of the public freedoms committee at the underground Syrian Journalists Association, said Odaallah's death brought to 54 the number of Syrian journalists, bloggers and writers killed by security forces during the uprising.

"Most have been killed with shots to the head. The regime appears to have adopted a systematic policy of killing journalists and social media activists," Akko told Reuters by telephone from Berlin.

Earlier, Syria's deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said Obama's talk of action against Syria was media fodder.

Speaking after the news conference held by Russia's Lavrov, Jamil said the West was seeking an excuse to intervene, likening the focus on Syria's chemical weapons with the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S.-led forces and the focus on what proved to be groundless suspicions that Saddam Hussein was concealing weapons of mass destruction.

"Direct military intervention in Syria is impossible because whoever thinks about it ... is heading towards a confrontation wider than Syria's borders," he told a news conference in Damascus.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported the concerns of Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of Syria's population. It said Christians fleeing the fighting have detected an increasingly radicalized Islamist strain among the rebels that makes them fear for their future.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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NEW YORK -- U.S. authorities said on Monday that they had seized $150 million from a Lebanese bank suspected of being at the heart of international money-laundering schemes linked to the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

In February 2011, the U.S. Treasury department designated the Lebanese Canadian Bank as a "primary money-laundering concern." The privately owned bank was subsequently merged with the Lebanese subsidiary of Societe Generale.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration accused bank officials of knowingly participating in a scheme in which money from various individuals and companies in Beirut was sent from Lebanon to purchase used cars in the United States. The cars were then sold in West Africa, and Hezbollah-linked groups would help smuggle the proceeds into Lebanon, authorities said.

Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamist guerrilla and political movement founded with Iran's help after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

Report: HSBC allowed money laundering that likely funded terror, drugs

Washington considers Hezbollah to be a terrorist group. U.S. officials say that it has become increasingly involved in the drug trade, facilitating the distribution and sale of cocaine in West Africa.

The money seized was held in corresponding accounts at five different banks in the United States, including Citibank and London-based bank Standard Chartered. The five banks have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

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An attorney for the Lebanese Canadian Bank did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

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EPA

Refugees fleeing the violence in Syria gather at an emergency camp for Syrians in Zaatari village, east of Mafraq Governorate, Jordan, on July 31, 2012.

News analysis

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Earlier this year, a young Syrian man who along with his family found refuge in the safety of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, described his conflict-torn home country as being like a "stopper on a drain."

The stopper, he told me, had been removed and now the region was slowly being sucked down the drain.

His words may have been prescient. As the conflict in Syria drags on, the war is affecting neighboring countries and shaping politics in a way that threatens the stability of the region.

Opposition troops, led by the Free Syrian Army, have been battling President Bashar Assad’s forces for more than a year in an attempt to topple the regime.

Activists say that around 20,000 people have been killed since the start of the uprising -- that has since evolved into a full-fledged civil war -- in March last year.

Three fronts
The external impact of Syria’s internal fighting on neighboring countries can be summed up on three fronts: refugees and resources, sectarian tensions, and regional geopolitics.

The United Nations estimates that close to 200,000 refugees have escaped Syria into neighboring countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

Turkish officials say they have registered close to 65,000 refugees in their camps. Hundreds of Syrians there are being treated outside the official health care system in makeshift care centers in private buildings.

Recently, Jordan’s King Abdullah warned that the international community needs to do more to help countries cope with the refugees.

Jordan, directly south of Syria, is a country familiar with absorbing refugees. It currently shares borders with Israel, the West Bank, Iraq and Syria, among others, and over the decades has wrestled with how to handle refugee crises involving Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis and Syrians.

30 dead in Syrian air strike; strife spills into Lebanon

Jordan already has a struggling economy, and its infrastructure has been further strained by refugees in need of medical care, education and basic services.

/

A Syrian refugee complains Thursday over the management of the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan during a visit by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Lebanon has been slow to acknowledge a Syrian refugee problem in its territory. Because Syrians can move freely across the border, many of those escaping the fighting are staying with friends and relatives and not actually registering as refugees within the country. In turn, this also adds stress on local resources for a country with its own domestic economic woes.

Sectarian strains
Beyond the refugee and humanitarian crisis triggered by the Syrian conflict on neighboring countries, increased sectarian tensions in some of these countries are rapidly reflecting the divide within Syria itself.

UN investigators: War crimes perpetrated in Syria

On more than one occasion, deadly clashes have erupted inside Lebanon between supporters of Assad’s regime and the opposition trying to topple it. This fighting has mirrored the sectarian fault lines of Syria.

Slideshow: The lives of Syrian rebels

NBC News

People resisting the army of President Bashar Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.

Launch slideshow

The regime and its supporters are mainly drawn from Syria’s Alawite community, which is an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam. The rebel forces and the opposition are largely driven by Sunnis Muslims.

In recent days, Syrian rebels have seized dozens of men they claimed where Iranian and Lebanese Shiites sent to help the Assad regime.

In response, the relatives of the Lebanese men kidnapped in Syria carried out their own wave of kidnappings by taking as many as 23 Syrians who were inside Lebanon.

Syria diversion: Passengers asked for fuel money

The reprisal abductions suggest that the conflict is becoming a regional, rather than a purely Syrian, one.

As the fighting continues, more deadly clashes, kidnappings and the exchange of bitter accusations among the external proxy supporters and opponents inside Lebanon appear likely.

Collision course
The Syrian conflict has turned into a quagmire that goes beyond its borders, locking countries into a collision course over their stances on the Syrian divide.

Wealthy Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are behind the Syrian opposition. So, too, is Turkey, which shelters the Free Syrian Army.

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But the internationalization of Syria’s conflict has spread far beyond the immediate region.

The United States has announced its plan to equip the rebels with communications equipment and other valuable intelligence.

Washington has accused Iran of providing material and financial support to the embattled regime.

Russia has provided the Syrian regime with arms and military hardware since the conflict began. Moscow, which has had a de facto alliance with Syria for decades, has also blocked several U.N. Security Council efforts to sanction the Assad regime.

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With action stymied in the Security Council, action against Assad shifted to the General Assembly, where members voted earlier this month on an Arab-backed resolution harshly condemning Syrian regime. The vote -- 133-12 in favor of the resolution, with 33 countries abstaining -- underscored the relative isolation of the Assad regime.

Central piece?
Depending on whom you ask -- supporters or opponents of the Assad regime -- Syria can be seen as a central piece to a larger conflict in the Middle East.

Dislodging Assad’s regime would mean a significant blow to the regional alliance between Syria, Iran and the Hezbollah Shiite militia group, which constitutes a powerful anti-U.S., anti-Israel power bloc.

Others argue that removing Assad would be one more victory for budding democracies in the wake of the Arab revolutions across the region.

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In addition, the Syrian military has shot down a Turkish fighter jet, shelled the Lebanese border and has had almost daily running gunfights with the Jordanian army. Its border with Iraq was shut down, and crossing terminals with Turkey have fallen into the hands of the rebels.

Some have warned that as the conflict in Syria drags on, its problems will spill over into neighboring countries and the region. But when one takes a step back and looks at the big picture, it is easy to see why young Syrians and many others say it has already done so.

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An air strike by Syrian government forces killed 30 people in the rebel-held town of Azaz on Wednesday, a local doctor said, and a mass kidnapping linked to Syria in neighboring Lebanon raised the prospect of sectarian violence spreading.

That citizens of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, key supporters of the Sunni Muslim insurgency, were among those seized by Lebanese Shi'ites prompted Gulf states to urge citizens to leave Lebanon. It also underscored how the Syrian conflict is dividing the region along sectarian lines as world powers remain deadlocked.

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Also, in Geneva, a highly anticipated report by an independent commission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, found evidence of war crimes perpetrated in Syria. 

Doctor Mohammad Lakhini said at a hospital in Azaz, in the north near the Turkish border, that scores of people there were wounded in the raid by President Bashar al-Assad's air force. It reduced several houses to rubble and dozens of men clawed through the concrete and metal debris looking for survivors.

In video posted by activists earlier on Wednesday, residents in Azaz - close to the major urban battleground of Aleppo - screamed and shouted "God is greatest" as they carried bloodied bodies from collapsed concrete buildings.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A man carries the body of a boy after a Syrian air force air strike in Azaz, some 29 miles north of Alepp on Aug. 15.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens had been killed. One activist in the town said at least 30 bodies had been found and rescuers were searching for more.

The video footage, which could not be immediately verified, showed crowds of residents wrestling with steel bars and pulling away a giant slab of concrete to reveal the dust-covered arm of a child. "This is a real catastrophe," said an activist who gave his name only as Anwar. "An entire street was destroyed."

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"The building they were in was hit," rebel commander Ahmed Ghazali told the Lebanese news channel Al Jadeed.

"We were able to remove seven from the wreckage. They are wounded, and some of the injuries are serious."

Assad's forces have increasingly used helicopter gunships and warplanes against the lightly-armed insurgents - elements in fresh accusations of war crimes leveled by United Nations human rights investigators on Wednesday.

Sectarian overtones
The Syrian civil war has taken on overtly sectarian overtones, with most rebels belonging to the Sunni Muslim majority, fighting against government forces rooted in Assad's Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Regional powers are being drawn into the fight, with Sunni-led Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey supporting the rebels and Shi'ite Iran backing Assad's government. Fighting between Sunnis and Shi'ites lay behind long civil wars in Syria's neighbors Iraq and Lebanon, and the West fears the violence could spread.

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Gunmen belonging to the Shi'ite clan abducted more the men, including at least one Turk, one Saudi and several Syrian anti-Assad fighters, in retaliation for the capture of one of their kinsmen by rebels in Damascus. 

The incident, in an area of Lebanon controlled by Hezbollah Shi'ite militants long allied to Assad and supported by Iran, raised the prospect of Syria's sectarian violence spilling over to its neighbor. Mass kidnapping was a perennial tactic in Lebanon's own sectarian civil war from 1975-1990.

Members of the Meqdad clan said they had carried out the kidnappings in retaliation for the capture of kinsman Hassan al-Meqdad by anti-Assad rebels in Damascus two days earlier.

They threatened to carry out more abductions of Qataris, Turks and Saudis. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates told their citizens to leave Lebanon - potentially dealing a blow to Beirut's reviving tourist business.

Syria's civil war has polarized Lebanon, with Shi'ites rallying behind Assad and Sunnis backing his enemies.

As the violence intensified, U.N. human rights investigators accused forces loyal to Assad of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Investigators determined that May killings in the town of Houla, in which more than 100 people died, including nearly half of them children, as well as numerous other murders, unlawful killings, acts of torture, rape and other sexual violence and indiscriminate attacks on civilians were carried out "pursuant to state policy pointing to the involvement at the highest levels of the armed and security forces and the government." 

The UN panel also concluded that anti-government armed groups committed war crimes, including murder, extrajudicial killings and torture, but said that "these violations and abuses were not of the same gravity, frequency and scale" as those carried out by government forces and the shabiha militia. 

Opposition sources say 18,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad erupted in March last year. The bloodshed has divided regional and world powers, making peace efforts fruitless and paralyzing the U.N. Security Council. 

Most Western and Arab governments have called on Assad to go, saying his government's violent response to initially peaceful protests give him no place in a future Syria.

Russia has opposed tougher U.N. sanctions against Damascus, a long-time strategic ally, but denies it is actively helping Assad remain in power. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western governments of reneging on a deal among world powers made on June 30 to push for a transitional government in Syria.

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Updated at 5:30 p.m. Friday ET: The office of Turkey's prime minister said early Saturday that Syria downed a Turkish F-4 air force jet over the Mediterranean. The Syrian military, in a statement circulated on state media, said the plane was flying over its waters.

Turkey will take all necessary measures “decisively” once all the details of the incident emerge, said the office of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan after a two-hour security meeting. It did not specify what the steps would be.

Search and rescue operations forthe warplane's missing airmen were continuing, Erdogan's office said.

Syria's military said, "Our air defenses confronted a target that penetrated our air space over our territorial waters pre-afternoon on Friday and shot it down. It turned out to be a Turkish military plane."

Of Friday, Erdogan told reporters at a news conference covered by NBC News he could not say whether the plane had crashed or been shot down.

"The chief of general staff has made the necessary statement about the missing plane. I am not saying it was brought down at the point it fell. It is not possible to say this without knowing the exact facts," Erdogan said.

He said he wasn't aware of any Syrian claims of responsibility for bringing down the plane or of earlier reports that Syrian authorities had apologized. 

Earlier, Lebanon's Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar television station said that Syrian air defenses shot down a Turkish military aircraft, quoting Syrian security sources. 

"Syrian security sources confirmed to a Manar correspondent in Damascus that Syrian defense forces shot down the Turkish fighter jet," a news flash on the Beirut-based station said.  

Pro-Iranian Al-Mayadeen television station, which is based in Lebanon, also quoted what it said were Turkish sources as saying a jet had been shot down by Syrian air defenses.

Turkey -- a member of NATO -- said it had lost contact with a plane while it was over the sea off the southeastern coast, and a television station said it had crashed in Syrian territorial waters. 

In a statement, Turkey's military said it lost radar and radio contact with the plane after it took off from Erhac Airport in the eastern province of Malatya. 

Two crew were aboard the F-4 at the time of the crash, the Turkish state news agency Anatolia said on its website, citing Malatya governor Ulvi Saran. 

Turkish warplanes regularly patrol along and off Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast.

Turkey has joined nations such as the U.S. in saying that Syrian President Bashar Assad should step down because of the uprising in his country. Turkey also has set up refugee camps on its border for more than 32,000 Syrians who have fled the fighting.

This article includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

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