Gunmen opened fire at dawn Thursday on several Syrian tanker trucks in the northern city of Tripoli, injuring one person, the National News agency reported.

NNA said the gunmen attacked seven diesel tankers near the footbridge in the area of al-Tabbaneh, injuring Saleh Fares, who Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said was one of the trucks' drivers.

The March 8 camp held talks on Wednesday at Speaker Nabih Berri's residence at Ain el-Tineh in order to coordinate their stances ahead of the binding parliamentary consultations later this week.

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh said after the talks: “We will head to the consultations with a united position over a new prime minister-designate.”

March 14 opposition alliance lawmakers are scheduled to hold a meeting at the Center House to take a final stance on the person they will name for the premiership during the binding consultations at Baabda palace, informed sources said Wednesday.

While the sources did not reveal to An Nahar newspaper when the meeting will be held, high-ranking al-Mustaqbal movement officials told As Safir that the final decision on the opposition’s candidate will be made on Thursday night.

Coordination between al-Mustaqbal movement and the Progressive Socialist Party on the best candidate for the post of the prime minister has made strong progress, reports said Thursday.

Several dailies said Caretaker Minister Wael Abou Faour, who had held talks with al-Mustaqbal chief Saad Hariri in Riyadh, briefed President Michel Suleiman on Tuesday on the results of his meeting in the Saudi capital and then traveled back there for another round of talks with Hariri.

The rift between the Lebanese foes is expected to deepen as media reports said on Wednesday that President Michel Suleiman is expected to call for a session for the caretaker cabinet next week.

According to An Nahar newspaper, Suleiman will call for a session that would focus on the preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections based on the 1960 law.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel stated on Tuesday that a neutral cabinet cannot face the huge challenges ahead of Lebanon, stressing that the country is in “desperate need of a rescue government that pushes for consensus over an electoral law”.

“There is an international economic crisis and the future cabinet must face all challenges because if a problem hits Lebanon, no country is available to help us,” Gemayel elaborated in an interview on NBN television.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday launched a vehement verbal attack on Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and hinted that he will not renominate Najib Miqati for the premiership.

“Jumblat is mentally unstable and he is trying to punish us because we backed the Orthodox Gathering (electoral) law,” said Aoun during an interview on his movement's mouthpiece OTV.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Tuesday stressed that he will not “voice any stance or comment” on his candidate for the premiership before his upcoming TV interview on Thursday evening.

In a brief phone interview with al-Manar television, Jumblat declined to comment on a media report claiming that he will back former premier Saad Hariri's pick for the premiership.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday reiterated its call for holding the elections on time without any “postponement or stalling in this matter”, expressing their support for a hybrid electoral law.

"The bloc is now working on developing an advanced formula of the hybrid proposal,” the MPs revealed in a released statement after the bloc's weekly meeting at the Center House.

A sit-in was held Tuesday at Tripoli's Abdul Hamid Karami Square by the relatives and friends of a young Tripolitan man who was found dead several days ago in Dahiyeh.

“The relatives and friends of the victim Samer Kanj staged a sit-in at the Abdul Hamid Karami Square in Tripoli and blocked the main road outside the serail in protest at the death of their son in (Beirut's) southern suburb in mysterious circumstances,” state-run National News Agency reported.