A Lebanese figure close to Syria urged Lebanese not to be over-optimistic about the Saudi-Syria mediation effort to find an exit to the crisis over the international tribunal.

He confirmed that the Saudi-Syria deal had been cut during the recent visit by President Bashar Assad to Saudi Arabia and his meeting at Riyadh airport with King Abdullah in the presence of his son, Prince Abdul Aziz.

Speaker Nabih Berri said Saudi King Abdullah's back surgery in New York delayed a solution to the Lebanese crisis but did not obstruct the formulation of a settlement.

Berri made his remark to Ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia is putting more pressure on Prime Minister Saad Hariri to reject the Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the 2005 assassination of his father ex-PM, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on its website.

In return, it said, Hizbullah would guarantee Hariri that it would not harm him. Hizbullah would also avoid any overt military activities and Hariri would be allowed to maintain his own security apparatus.

A Saudi-Syria compromise based on Lebanon's withdrawal from the international tribunal is likely to be announced by January 15, the daily Al-Akhbar newspaper said Wednesday.

It said Syrian President Bashar Assad updated President Michel Suleiman during a Dec. 26 phone call on the content of his conversation with Saudi King Abdullah and his son Prince Abdul Aziz regarding the Syrian-Saudi compromise "which is near-completion."

A specialized counterterrorism army unit on Thursday staged a tactical exercise in a number of populated areas in Beirut's suburbs, the Army Command's Orientation Directorate announced in a statement.

"The exercise included the arrest of supposed individuals, who may have infiltrated the country with the aim of plotting terrorist acts against several locations," the statement added

Lebanese Forces leader MP Antoine Zahra stated on Thursday that the LF supports any Arab and international effort to help Lebanon, stressing that the solution to the Lebanese political crisis should remain strictly Lebanese.

Addressing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, he said: "Despite the campaign that was prepared to eliminate the tribunal, we have reached the moment of truth."

Mustaqbal MPs Samir Jisr and Hadi Hobeish on Thursday held a joint press conference in response to remarks by head of Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

"We have no idea whether the indictments are based on telecommunications evidence," Hobeish told Raad.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad members have received training in Lebanon, Syria and Iran and returned to the Gaza strip to train other fighters, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

The newspaper said that Iranian and Syrian experts have also improved the fighting capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants as part of an operation to restructure the force of Palestinian factions that was destroyed during Israel's last aggression on Gaza.

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Thursday called in his Christmas message on the various Lebanese sides to "sacrifice" for Lebanon.

"The holidays, as every year, arrived amidst a split among Lebanese and the faithful cannot hide their concerns about their country .They are split," Sfeir said in the message.

Three men, including two Lebanese, were found guilty Thursday of plotting to attack a Sydney army base with high-powered weapons and kill as many people as possible to further the cause of Islam.

The Supreme Court in Melbourne heard that the men, who have been linked with Islamic extremists in Somalia, planned to continue their rampage at Sydney's Holsworthy army barracks until they were killed or captured.