Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said on Wednesday that his political arch-foe Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun isn't responsible for head of al-Mustaqbal Movement Saad Hariri's security, stressing that staging the parliamentary elections amid presidential vacuum is a dangerous precedent.

“It is early to discuss the legislative polls... But if we carry out the elections without a head of state then we will return to the same crisis,” Geagea told reporters at Maarab after lawmakers failed for the seventh time to elect a new president.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon resumed on Wednesday the trial in the Ayyash et al. case tackling the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The trial at the Hague kicked off with Registrar Daryl Mundis confirming that none of the five accused came forward to appear before the trial.

Lawmakers failed on Wednesday for the seventh time to elect a new president as differences between the rival parties seemed not to be abating.

Speaker Nabih Berri postponed the session to July 2 to fill the seat of the country's top Christian post at Baabda Palace.

An army commando force raided on Wednesday Syrian refugees encampments in the northeastern border town of Arsal, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said that the army also carried out patrols on the outskirts of Arsal in search for gunmen and wanted suspects.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has said the U.S. must spend money to help Lebanon confront the Syrian refugee crisis as the U.S. Senate appropriators advanced a $48.3 billion budget for foreign aid and State Department work.

The Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee adopted the budget by consensus Tuesday. The full committee examines it Thursday.

The much-anticipated meeting between Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and al-Mustaqbal head MP Saad Hariri in the French capital Paris is not expected to resolve the presidential deadlock.

An Nahar newspaper reported that the meeting, which was expected to be held on Tuesday was postponed to Friday.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is scheduled to visit Kuwait on Sunday for talks with Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, in his second Gulf state visit in a month.

Al-Liwaa daily said Wednesday that the one-day trip is aimed at sending a message that Lebanon's security situation has improved and that Kuwaiti citizens could visit the country.

The dispute on the wage scale for the public sector has made some breakthrough after talks between the finance minister and al-Mustaqbal bloc's leader but differences between the parliamentary blocs remained on the funding.

An Nahar newspaper said on Wednesday that al-Mustaqbal bloc chief MP Fouad Saniora held talks with the representatives of the March 14 alliance to discuss the pay raise.

A meeting was held recently between Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki in an attempt to end the rift among them, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the daily, al-Rahi held a dinner banquet on Monday night in the presence of 25 bishops and attended by Aoun.

By David Hale

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon