Iran is using commercial aircraft to smuggle weapons and explosives to Syria and Hizbullah in Lebanon, the German broadcaster ZDF reported Wednesday.

Citing Western security sources, ZDF said that Iran Air and Yas Air have repeatedly used aircraft designated as passenger planes to transport weapons to the Assad regime and Hizbullah.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday held three-hour talks in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging Ankara to carry on with its “satisfactory and ongoing” efforts to secure the release of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims abducted in Syria’s Aleppo on May 22.

“Mr. Erdogan stressed that Turkey will continue to exert intensified efforts to rescue the Lebanese citizens held in Syria,” Miqati’s press office said in a statement issued after the meeting.

Syria's Permanent Representative to the U.N. Bashar al-Jaafari reiterated that his country is confronting “terrorist groups” that are trained, protected and funded by some Arab and regional countries, including Lebanon.

“Some Arab and regional countries should stop providing these groups with funds, weapons, political support and media coverage,” Jaafari said on Wednesday in a press conference held after a U.N. Security Council session.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil warned on Thursday that the electricity crisis in Lebanon might worsen during the upcoming days as Electricite du Liban's contract employees’ strike is affecting the company’s work.

“The full-time employees have informed me that they can’t tolerate the ongoing situation as the strike is affecting their work,” Bassil told As Safir newspaper.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati gave an ultimatum to cabinet ministers to resolve the controversial funding of state projects by next Wednesday, media reports said.

Beirut dailies quoted on Thursday sources as saying that Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi proposed in coordination with Miqati the allocation of 100 million dollars as treasury loans to carry out development projects in their hometown of Tripoli in the North.

U.N.-Arab League Special Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan on Thursday held talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda palace on his peace plan for strife-torn Syria and the issue of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims abducted on May 22 in the Syrian province of Aleppo.

During the talks with Suleiman, Annan “evaluated his plan for Syria and the stages it has gone through,” NBN television reported.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Wednesday stressed the need to preserve national unity in Syria, warning against “falling into the traps of civil strife and sedition that are being set up by the regime.”

Commenting on the latest abduction and counter-abduction operations in the Syrian provinces of Daraa and Soueida, Jumblat called for “turning this painful page” and extended gratitude to “everyone who contributed to ending this problem, especially the three spiritual leaders, the dignitaries of Soueida and Daraa, and the revolution coordination committees in the two regions.”

Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday revealed that he has provided Palestinian leaders with the names of a group plotting to assassinate him, noting that they are “experienced individuals.”

In an interview on al-Manar television, Berri added that he had summoned top Palestinian leader Azzam al-Ahmed, member of Fatah’s Central Committee, to brief him on the available information, which were reported by “three sources.”

Syrian troops kidnapped on Wednesday two Lebanese farmers in the border region of al-Abboudiyeh.

The residents in the area blocked the international road in protest against the development.

Iran's U.N. mission has strongly denied a U.S. newspaper report alleging evidence existed implicating Tehran or its Lebanese ally Hizbullah in international assassination plots, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.

"Iran has always condemned any terrorist acts and these baseless accusations are being made against the Islamic state in line with Iranophobia and the policy of putting illegal pressure on Iran," the Iranian mission said in letter to the Washington Post newspaper, which published the report, according to the Arman daily.