The American Task Force for Lebanon lashed out at New York-based United against Nuclear Iran (UANI) for accusing the Lebanese banking sector of laundering money for the benefit of Iran, Syria and Hizbullah, describing them as false accusations.

The ATFL argues that the campaign launched by UANI encouraged private-equity firms to unload their Lebanese holdings, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.

The United States on Thursday accused Iran of playing a "nefarious" role in the Syria conflict, one that strengthens the case for President Bashar Assad to be forced out of office.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said the alliance of Iran, Hizbullah and Assad's government was "bad for the region."

Four Lebanese-Canadians are running in the upcoming National Assembly’s elections in Quebec as candidates for the upstart “Coalition Avenir Québec.”

The four candidates Johnny Kairouz, Abel-Claude Arslanian, Walid Hadid and Carla el-Ghandour will represent some 200,000 Lebanese-Canadians who are mostly localized in Quebec and Montreal.

Ex-Minister Michel Samaha, who has admitted to involvement in a plot to carry out bombings in Lebanon, has reportedly told investigators that the order came straight from Syrian President Bashar Assad.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper published Friday, Samaha said: “The Syrian president wants this. This is what Bashar (Assad) wants.”

A Lebanese cabinet minister hinted on Friday that Israeli claims of explosives smuggling through the Lebanese-Israeli border were aimed at covering up the failure of the Jewish state to withdraw from the Lebanese side of the border village of Ghajar.

The minister, who was not identified, did not rule out that the charges against at least eight Arab-Israeli men of transferring explosives to Israel, were an excuse to cover up Israeli troops’ continued occupation of the northern part of Ghajar.

The Foreign Ministry denied that Lebanon’s Ambassador to Damascus Michel al-Khoury left the mission’s headquarters over the deterioration in the security situation of the Syrian capital.

In a statement it issued on Friday, the ministry said al-Khoury is in Beirut on a two-day administrative leave.

A former Qantas worker found guilty of producing a do-it-yourself jihad manual had his conviction reinstated by Australia's High Court Friday, with judges ruling he had extremist intentions.

Lebanese-born Belal Khazaal, an ex-Qantas cabin cleaner, was jailed for 12 years in 2009 over the Arabic-language handbook, which included how-to guides on bomb-making, assassinations, kidnappings and shooting down planes.

MP Mohammed Raad, head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc, on Thursday described as “security fabrications” the arrest earlier in the day of former minister Michel Samaha on alleged charges of plotting for bombings.

“We will not remain silent but we will wait for some time,” Raad said in a speech during a Ramadan iftar banquet.

Kidnapper of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims, Abou Ibrahim, stated on Thursday that the captives would be “released very soon, God willing,” reported LBCI television.

He told the television station: “We want Lebanese politicians to officially recognize the Syrian revolution in order to release the pilgrims.”

The attempt of two armed men to rob a BLOM Bank branch in the North Metn area was thwarted by a Lebanese army captain who was injured in the incident, the National News Agency reported Thursday.

The Army Command later confirmed the incident, saying that Captain Ryan al-Jerdi’s injuries are serious.