Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani canceled on Thursday his decision to call for the election of members of the Higher Islamic Council on Dec. 30.
Qabbani's new move came to allow Dar al-Fatwa, which is Lebanon’s top Sunni religious authority, to issue a list of eligible voters for the 32-member Council.

Mufti of Tripoli and the North Sheikh Malek al-Shaar disclosed his intentions Thursday to return to Lebanon, pointing out that former Prime Minister Saad Hariri holds the same will, the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah daily reported.
“The necessary arrangements for my personal safety are underway to pave for my return to Lebanon,” al-Shaar told the daily after a meeting with Hariri at his residence in Paris on Tuesday.

Syrian Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, who was wounded in a bombing and was brought to Beirut for treatment a week ago, flew home after Lebanese authorities received information that international arrest warrants could be issued against him, a top security official said.
Al-Shaar left to Damascus on a private jet, officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said Tuesday.

Iran and Russia are holding consultations to defuse tension in Lebanon over the crisis in the neighboring country Syria.
A diplomatic source told al-Liwaa newspaper on Thursday that the two countries want to end the disputes in Lebanon between the political foes to maintain stability in it.

Opposition lawmaker Robert Ghanem said Thursday he will meet with Speaker Nabih Berri next week to discuss with him a proposal to head meetings of a parliamentary subcommittee on an electoral draft-law, which are seen as a test of intentions.
Ghanem told An Nahar daily he hasn't yet been officially notified to head the meetings over the presence of Deputy Speaker Farid Makari, who is the subcommittee's chairman, in Paris.

Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel stressed on Thursday that he will attend the upcoming all-party talks out of respect for the presidency even if the March 14 alliance rejected to engage in dialogue with the March 8 foes.
“Our stance is clear. We will attend the upcoming dialogue session as we respect the presidency but if the main figures rejected to attend it, we leave it to the president (Michel Suleiman) to take the appropriate decision” on whether to go ahead with the session or postpone it, Gemayel said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

The rebel Free Syrian Army announced on Wednesday that it will not mediate anymore for the release of the Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria's Aazaz.
The FSA's Political and Media Coordinator Louay Meqdad told Future TV: “After a meeting of the army's commanders, we have decided to end our negotiations to release the abducted”.

Syrian forces on Wednesday "killed and wounded members of a terrorist group who attempted to infiltrate from Lebanese territory via the Joussiyeh border crossing in Qusayr's countryside" in Homs, Syria's state news agency SANA quoted a local source as saying.
"The group opened fire on border guards and security checkpoints in Joussiyeh's farms, before our armed forces confronted it and left most of its members dead or wounded while the others retreated to Lebanese territory," the source said.

Syrian Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar on Wednesday left for Damascus via the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport aboard a private jet, after spending one week at the American University of Beirut Medical Center for treatment of wounds he sustained in a suicide bomb attack on the interior ministry, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
“Shaar left hospital on Wednesday afternoon,” Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency quoted medical sources at AUBMC as saying.

The members of the Joint Parliamentary Committees will convene on January 8 to discuss the electoral law, the parliament's administrative department revealed on Wednesday.
Lawmakers said after their weekly talks with Speaker Nabih Berri that the AMAL Movement leader encourages these discussions and is optimistic about their outcome.
