Lebanon’s decision to abstain from voting on the U.N. Security Council resolution against the Syrian regime triggered wide reactions locally, especially among the March 8 forces and the March 14-led opposition that strongly criticized it, An Nahar newspaper reported on Thursday.

Sources told the daily that the Foreign Ministry had directed Lebanon's Special Envoy to the U.N. Nawaf Salam to vote against the resolution, but urgent discussions among officials favored that Lebanon abstain from voting.

Israel is to launch a spy satellite that will double the resolution of its images, keeping a close watch on Iran, Channel 10 television reported on Wednesday.

It said the satellite, built by Israeli firm Elbit and due for launch soon, would be able to take high resolution images from an altitude of 600 kilometers (360 miles).

Free Patriotic Movement Leader MP Michel Aoun renewed his rejection to finance the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Wednesday, assuring that he is ready to “prosecute the ones who will fund it.”

In an interview with Radio Monte Carlo, Aoun said that “there is no agreement between Lebanon and the U.N. Security Council on the STL”, adding that the decision to establish the tribunal came from one side and was imposed on Lebanon under Chapter seven of the U.N. Charter.

The Lebanese Cabinet appointed Wednesday former Minister Adnan Sayyed Hussein as President of the Lebanese University.

Sayyed Hussein holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Lebanese University with high honors; He began teaching at the Lebanese University in 1990.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Wednesday the Syrian army’s infiltration of Lebanese territory on Tuesday, describing the action as being a military one.

He said after holding talks with French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton: “The Lebanese government should send a strongly-worded complaint to Syria over the matter.”

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel slammed on Wednesday the infiltration of the Syrian army into Lebanese territory in the Arsal region on Tuesday, describing as a “very dangerous” development.

He said after meeting the Czech and Egyptian ambassadors to Lebanon: “We fear that the Syrian army is being granted new opportunities in Lebanon.”

The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday the Syrian army’s infiltration of Lebanese territory on Tuesday, “whether it was aimed at arresting Syrian citizens or attacking Lebanese citizens.”

It urged in a statement after its weekly meeting the “Lebanese government and all its institutions to put an end to these violations and any future ones.”

Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned that he would “set fire" to the Middle East if foreign forces launched a military strike on his country and would ask for Hizbullah’s help to attack Israel.

An Arab source told Iran’s Fars news Agency that Assad made the warning to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu during his visit to Damascus.

The residents of the North Metn town of Ain Saadeh blocked several roads on Wednesday in protest of a decision to install high-voltage electricity lines in the region.

The residents began rallying at dawn threatening authorities to hamper their plans.

U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly stressed during her meeting with Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn on the role of the Lebanese Armed Forces in protecting the Syrian opposition residing in Lebanon.

Sources told An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey will reiterate the U.S. position to Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji during his upcoming visit to the U.S.