Syria Live Blog

The United Nations said Syria is on the brink of civil war and has raised the official death toll resulting from nine-months of violence to 4,000.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, gave the latest figure on Thursday, a day before the global body is due to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in the country.

In its report on Monday, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry said Syrian forces had committed crimes against humanity, including the murder and torture of children, following orders from the highest levels of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh reports from Amman, Jordan.

Lebanese banks have adopted strict measures to ensure compliance with international sanctions against neighbouring Syria and are closely scrutinising transactions by Syrian clients, banking officials said on Thursday.

"Banks are taking extremely strong precautions to avoid bad surprises regarding people or institutions under sanctions," said one official who works at one of Lebanon's top banks. "No one wants to expose himself to pressure or problems.

"Banks are running away from anything that has to do with Syria like it's a disease because the US is closely watching."

He requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue and banking secrecy laws.

He told AFP news agency that the precautions taken apply to transactions by long-standing Syrian clients as well as new account applicants, many of whom are being turned down.

[Source: AFP]

A member of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the country's main political oppostion bloc, said on Thursday that the council and Syrian army deserters have agreed to coordinate their struggle against Assad's rule.

The first meeting between the SNC and the Free Syrian Army earlier this week in Turkey appeared to mark a change of tack from the SNC's previous reluctance to back the armed struggle.

"It is agreed that it would be a coordinated movement, there would be coordination," the SNC's Khaled Khoja told AFP news agency

"The council recognised the Free Syrian Army as a reality, while the army recognised the council as the political representative" of the opposition."

He did not specify how organic the links between the two movements would be but the meeting marked a new step in efforts to unite opposition to Assad, who is under growing pressure to step down.