Prime Minister Najib Miqati is seeking to maintain stability in Lebanon by disassociating the country from the crisis in Syria.

Sources close to Miqati told An Nahar newspaper that the premier and his cabinet don’t accept any violation of freedoms especially those of journalists.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will head to Canada, the United States and Mexico on a pastoral visit next week, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the daily, al-Rahi is scheduled to kick off his one-month visit on April 22.

Syria has informed Lebanese authorities that it holds onto its announcement that “terrorist groups” were responsible for the killing of a Lebanese cameraman in the northern area of Wadi Khaled.

An Nahar daily said Wednesday that coordination between Lebanon and Syria was underway through the joint security and military committee.

Two Lebanese army recruits have escaped the military service and joined the ranks of the rebel Free Syrian Army to fight President Bashar Assad’s regime, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

An informed source told the daily that the military service of the two recruits, who hail from the Wadi Khaled border region of Akkar, was extended but after they were granted their leave of absence “they left and never came back.”

Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi stressed on Wednesday that his candidate for the head of the Higher Judicial Council is not one of the two names that created controversy among President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.

“I will not reveal the name of my candidate unless the issue is tackled at the cabinet,” Qortbawi told As Safir newspaper.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat could be the second on the list of potential targets against Lebanese politicians following the assassination attempt on Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, a high-ranking March 14 source said Wednesday.

The source told al-Joumhouria daily that Jumblat is most at risk after Geagea following a decision to launch “a campaign of intimidation and physical elimination” against the politicians.

Lebanon can file a complaint with the U.N. Security Council against Syria over the killing of Lebanese cameramen Ali Shaaban, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

The sources told al-Mustaqbal daily however that the problem lies in the lack of a political decision to file such a complaint.

A competent judicial authority refused to provide the Internal Security Forces with the complete telecom data to continue their probe into the assassination attempt on Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

An Nahar newspaper said that the judicial authority which is tasked with assessing the possibility of providing the security forces with the telecom data includes Head of the Audit Bureau Judge Aouni Ramadan, Head of the Shura Council Shukri Sader and first president of the Court of Cassation Judge Hatem Madi.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Wednesday that British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced his backing for the policies adopted by the Lebanese government to achieve stability in the country.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper, Miqati described his meeting with Hague in London on Tuesday as “very positive,” and said the Foreign Secretary stressed “support for the Lebanese government’s approach which led to internal stability at a stage that is witnessing a lot of shakeups in the region.”

The Mustaqbal bloc condemned on Tuesday that murder of al-Jadeed cameraman Ali Shaaban on Monday, calling on the government to summon the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali over the incident.

It said after its weekly meeting: “The government’s leniency over Syria’s violations against Lebanon have led to a number of deaths along the border.”