Israeli fighter jets have attacked a target in Syria, saying it was an arms convoy to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The planes flew over Lebanese territory, drawing condemnation from Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.

Hundreds of Syrians have fled a coastal village in the country, after a reported massacre of civilians by forces loyal to besieged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian Observatory for HUman RIghts posted a video onlne, showing at least 10 bodies lying in the street, covered in pools of blood. Activists reported that 77 people were killed in Baniyas after 72 were killed at the nearby village of al-Badya.

The US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel as admitted that the government is reconsidering its opposition to the arming of the Syrian opposition.

"Arming the rebels - that's an option," he said to reporters at a press conference alongside Britain’s Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond.

The M23's political leader, Bertrand Bisimwa told AFP on Thursday:

Up to 100 people are feared to have been killed by Syrian government forces in the coastal village of Baida on Thursday.

The US State Department has announced the extension of some targeted sanctions against the Burmese government, while lifting visa restrictions on Burmese officials.

State Department officials said that continuing human rights concerns and the detention of political prisoners are factors in the extension of the sanctions.

The son of Libya’s former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, has appeared in a Libyan court earlier on Thursday, charged with plotting escape from detention in Libya.

The US has said it regrets Bolivia’s decision to move against USAID programmes in the country.

President Evo Morales had accused the organisation to conspire against Bolivia.

US state department spokesman Patrick Ventrell denied the accusations.

Bolivian President Evo Morales announced the expulsion of USAID representatives from the country, which he accused opf meddling in the country’s internal affairs and conspiring against him.

US President Barack Obama has said that the continuing existence of the prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay is a “recruitment tool” for extremists and not in the “best interest of the American people”.

The UK will end its aid programme in South Africa by 2015, said International Development Secretary Justine Greening.

The secretary will announce the move at a conference of African ministers and business leaders in London on Tuesday.

Hezbollah has declared its allegiance to Syria, vowing not to let it fall to the US or Israel.

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese militant group is quoted as saying:

"A large number [of rebels] were preparing to capture villages inhabited by Lebanese... so it was normal to offer every possible and necessary aid to help the Syrian army,"

President Barack Obama indicated that military action against Syria would be considered if the reports of chemical weapons deployed by the Assad regime were substantiated.

Obama reiterated that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a “game changer” but noted that the United States did not fully know who used them or when they were used.

The trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt has resumed this week, after a 12-day suspension over procedural matters.

Earlier Rios Montt and his co-defendant Jose Rodriguez Sanchez were left without lawyers to represent their case after they argued the trial should be annulled. Meanwhile relatives of victims and other rights groups held several protests demanding the trial be resumed.