Tensions were high at the Fatima gate border crossing in southern Lebanon on Friday when an Israeli army unit approached the border to inspect a suspicious object, reported the National News Agency.

The Lebanese army and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon promptly went on alert in response to the Israeli activity.

Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali on Friday denied reports that his embassy was behind the disappearance of Syrian opposition members who have gone missing in Lebanon, calling such accusations "unfounded."

"I am puzzled by these unfounded claims that have been attributed to the police chief," Ali told reporters after meeting Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.

The bodies of two middle-aged men who had been shot in the head were discovered in two regions near Beirut early Friday, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said the body of Albert Ramez al-Nashar, 52, was found under a bridge in the town of Antelias. It was taken to Haroun hospital in Zalka.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stressed on Friday that travel warnings for Lebanon issued by Western embassies are routine procedures that don’t imply a dangerous situation in the entire country.

In remarks to al-Joumhouria daily, Charbel said the warnings “don’t mean that the situation in Lebanon as a whole is under threat.”

A meeting that brought together the two foes, former Premier Omar Karami and al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora, came out with no result after they expressed conflicting viewpoints on the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Saniora stressed after the meeting in Beirut on Wednesday the importance of funding the STL, stating that it is a “debt on Lebanon.”

Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas was on Friday drafting the decree of wage hikes approved by the cabinet earlier in the week despite opposition by the General Labor Confederation and the Economic Committees.

Nahhas told As Safir daily he was obliged in accordance with the law to prepare the decree as called for by the government although the ministers of the Change and Reform bloc rejected it.

Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji’s visit to Washington did not result in any change in the United States decision to halt military assistance to the Lebanese army, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.

The relations between the U.S. and Lebanese army “are strong and we support the funding of the aid program to the Lebanese army,” a source in at the State Department told the daily.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat held talks on Thursday night in what sources said was a coordinated meeting ahead of the Druze leader’s expected interview with al-Manar.

Hizbullah’s TV station said the two officials discussed the latest developments but a source close to the two parties told al-Liwaa newspaper that the meeting and Jumblat’s TV appearance on Friday night are part of coordinated joint stances.

The March 14-led opposition is preparing for a “general national conference” next month in the light of the results achieved by the “Lady of the Mountain” gathering scheduled for Oct. 23, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday.

The conference will determine a broad vision on the upcoming stage in Lebanon and the region.

Two people were killed in a clash between Jaafar and Rifai Families in Sharawineh Neighborhood in Baalbak on Thursday.

According to NNA, a person from Jaafar family was shot dead as youths from his family were trying to kidnap a youth from Rifai family in Sharawinah neighborhood in Baalbek, while a ten year old child was killed by stray bullets.