President Michel Suleiman is intensifying his efforts to resume the national dialogue in order to tackle a defense strategy for Lebanon and implement the decisions that were reached on the Resistance and Palestinians’ possession of arms, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper on Saturday.

His calls for dialogue have so far been ignored by the rival March 8 and 14 camps over each side’s preconditions to hold the talks, seeing as the former refuses to discuss the Resistance’s possession of weapons, while the latter insists that it should be the sole topic of discussion.

Special Envoy for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559 Terje Roed-Larsen may propose during his upcoming visit to Lebanon with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon deploying the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon along the border with Syria, reported the Kuwaiti al-Qabas newspaper on Saturday.

It explained that the Norwegian official considers such a move an attempt to further isolate the Syrian regime and limit the smuggling of arms across the Lebanese-Syrian border.

A high-ranking Syrian security official condemned on Friday Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat’s recent calls to introduce “radical change” in the Syrian regime, saying that the Druze leader has once again allied himself with former Premier Saad Hariri and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, reported the Kuwaiti Al-Seyassah newspaper on Friday.

The official said before a Lebanese Druze delegation: “When the time comes for settling scores, Jumblat will be dealt with in the same manner as Hariri and Geagea, as well as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffery Feltman.”

Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun said Friday that Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent remarks that the Syrian opposition had presented its credentials to the West were “inappropriate coming from the leader of a resistance movement and a spiritual figure.”

In an interview on Al-Arabiya television, Ghalioun added: “Neighboring Lebanon is a real brother of Syria and it is more than a neighbor.”

Hizbullah on Friday accused the United States of being behind a bombing in Damascus which official Syrian media said killed 25 people and wounded dozens more, describing Washington as a "terrorist."

"This terrorist crime targeting the heart of the Syrian capital is the second installment of a plan by the evil force, the United States, to punish Syria for standing by the Resistance against the Zionist enemy," a statement by the group said.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri on Friday denied what he said was a “rumor” of a failed attempt on his life in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“You might have heard the rumor about my so-called assassination in Riyadh. My presence here, now, is a natural denial of this lie,” Hariri said in English on the social networking website Twitter.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi hoped on Friday that officials in Lebanon would be inspired by the Bible to conduct their political practices in order to achieve a better society.

He said during the Epiphany mass: “They should not separate their duties from their responsibilities towards God, but instead strike a balance between their political practices and moral values.”

Security forces arrested on Friday the kingpin of the network accused of planting bombs in the southern city of Sidon.

MTV reported that Ahmed Antar, who is accused of leading a gang behind the planting of bombs in Sidon, was detained by the ISF Intelligence Bureau.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour is expected to travel to Libya on January 12 in order hold talks with various officials on the disappearance of Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Friday: “I will stay there for several days until the case is resolved.”

Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas is formulating a new wage plan to propose before the Shura Council before submitting it to a vote at the cabinet, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.

Nahhas’ step might create a new dispute between the cabinet members as some might consider that he is bypassing the government by heading to the Shura Council directly, while others consider that this step falls in line with his constitutional jurisdictions.