The families of the 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims who were abducted in Syria on Monday blocked the airport road to protest the Lebanese state's failure to secure their release.

State-run National News Agency said the protesters used their cars and motorcycles to block the highway in both directions.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri said a visit on Monday to Lebanon by Saeed Jalili, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was “unwelcome in this critical period during which the Syrian people are suffering the most horrible types of massacres and destruction at the hands of Bashar Assad’s regime and its foreign protectors.”

“This visit also contradicts with the interest of the Lebanese people who cannot dissociate themselves from showing solidarity with their brothers in Syria or from the unified Arab stance demanding the resignation of Bashar Assad and an end to the Iranian regime’s interference in the Arab affairs in general and the Syrian and Lebanese affairs in particular,” Hariri added in a statement.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat praised on Monday President Michel Suleiman’s “important political positions” on Army Day, most notably his remarks that “there can be no partnership with the army and forces responsible for maintaining Lebanon’s security.”

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “We are seeking arms for the defense of Lebanon alone. We don’t want a defense strategy for the Hormuz Strait or any other area.”

Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr charged six people with forming an armed gang for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

NNA said that the six, five of whom are arrested while the other is still at large, were also accused of the possession, transportation and manufacturing of arms and explosives.

Top Iranian official Saeed Jalili called on Monday for intense consultations between Tehran and Beirut to preserve stability and security in the region.

“We should work together through the intense consultations and exchange of viewpoints in the service of the Islamic nation and the interest of the countries and peoples in the region,” Jalili, who is the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said at Beirut airport.

Cabinet agreed on Monday to form of a committee to study the development of areas in the northern Bekaa without approving any compensation to cannabis farmers.

The ministers also agreed to postpone discussions on the parliamentary electoral law to a cabinet session on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati held on to his stance of deporting Syrian criminals to preserve Lebanese security despite severe criticism by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat who reiterated that Lebanese authorities should refrain from sending back any Syrian in the current circumstances.

“Do they want security deterioration in the country?” Miqati asked about the officials who criticized him for supporting the decision of the General Security to deport 14 Syrians after they served their sentences in Lebanon in accordance with a judicial agreement signed between the two countries in 1951.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati snapped back at his critics on Monday, saying the government has made several achievements unlike what his opponents are publicizing.

In remarks to As Safir daily, Miqati said: “The violent campaign against it (the government) and with all means, gives the impression that the cabinet is not working.”

Abu Ibrahim, the head of the armed group that abducted the 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in Syria, refuses to negotiate with Lebanon’s General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim over their release, LBCI television reported on Sunday.

Ali Aqil Khalil, the ambassador of the International Organization for Human Rights to Lebanon, told LBCI that he telephoned Abu Ibrahim who said that he rejects General Ibrahim as a possible negotiator due to the General Security’s latest deportation of 14 Syrians to their strife-torn country.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri on Sunday held talks in Doha with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani.

Talks tackled “the latest developments in the Arab world,” his office said.