Two people were killed on Thursday as sniper attacks resumed in the northern city of Tripoli, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.

The dead include a child from the Zahra family, it added.

A prisoner exchange took place on Tuesday between the Jaafar clan and Syrian opposition members.

The opposition members handed over two Lebanese nationals, Khodr Husssein Khalil Jaafar and Abdullah al-Zein, who were kidnapped in the border town of Zeta, which is located inside Syrian territory.

The sides that are seeking to carry out assassinations in Lebanon are too powerful to be thwarted by the local authorities, revealed security circles to al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday.

They said that these groups “are backed by major intelligence agencies that have dedicated billions of dollars for them.”

Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi revealed on Thursday that authorities released two detainees allegedly charged with forming an armed terrorist group and undermining the authority of the state, as well as having links to al-Qaida.

The two members allegedly belong to a six-member network that infiltrated Lebanon to carry out “sabotage” operations.

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s departure would be a “major blow” to Hizbullah, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday.

Toppling Assad would seriously hurt Tehran, he said. "It will be a major blow to Iran when Assad falls; they are now supporting him very actively. It will be a weakening blow to the Hizbullah and probably Islamic Jihad."

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Wednesday charged that “the General Security has become a proxy for the Syrian regime,” voicing solidarity with President Michel Suleiman over the issue of administrative appointments.

The General Directorate of General Security “has become a proxy for the Syrian regime and it acted in a foolish way, as it could have sent a judicial warrant to (Salafist activist Shadi) al-Mawlawi instead of luring him into a trap, not to mention the story of the Jordanian who was exported by Iran to Syria and by Syria to Lebanon in a story that reminds us of Shaker al-Absi.”

Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Moqdad on Wednesday said his country was suffering “attacks by terrorist groups across the Lebanese border,” adding that “Lebanese parties are supporting these terrorists.”

“The Lebanese supporters of these terrorist groups are well-known and we have documented and precise information in this regard,” Moqdad said in an interview with al-Manar television.

An agreement was reached on Wednesday between Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, Islamic committees and the committee following up on the case of Islamist detainees, under which Salafist activist Shadi al-Mawlawi will be re-interrogated on Thursday under the supervision of Judge Saqr Saqr and in the presence of Mawlawi’s lawyers.

Following the agreement, Islamist protesters reopened roads leading to Tripoli’s al-Nour Square but decided to maintain their sit-in until Thursday afternoon.

Herman von Hebel, Registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, has designated one lead counsel and two co-counsel to represent the victims of the February 14, 2005 attack in the Ayyash et al. proceedings, the court said in a statement on Wednesday.

Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen decided on May 8 to grant 58 people the right to participate as victims in the proceedings as one group.

A person was killed and at least 10 others were wounded on Wednesday as clashes renewed in Tripoli despite the presence of Interior Minister Marwan Charbel in the northern city, the scene of three days of deadly clashes which ended by a ceasefire on Tuesday.

A security official speaking on condition of anonymity told Agence France Presse the shooting broke out after soldiers tried to remove barricades in the city's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.