Customs thwarted on Saturday an attempt by a Lebanese national to smuggle 7 kilograms of gold into Syria at the northern border town of al-Arida, the National News Agency reported.

According to NNA the car hold a Lebanese license plate.

Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed confidence on Saturday that the Lebanese are able to foil the plans that aim at spreading sedition and strife among them.

“The Lebanese people are able to overcome the challenges and foil plans to create discord and conflicts among them,” al-Maliki said in a letter sent to his Lebanese counterpart Najib Miqati.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati postponed his scheduled visit to Turkey on Saturday to follow up the abduction of the 11 pilgrims in Syria.

“I have decided to postpone my visit as the contacts and the efforts to release the abducted Lebanese are still ongoing,” Miqati said in a statement issued by his press office.

Advisor to the Turkish president, Irshad Hormuzlu, denied on Saturday reports that Turkey had informed Lebanese authorities that the 11 Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria have entered Turkey, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.

He told VDL: “There is no definite information that they have entered Turkey.”

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s efforts to ensure the release of the Lebanese pilgrims who were abducted earlier this week have not gone unnoticed by the rival political camps in Lebanon, with both sides praising his efforts.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stated that Hariri “played a very important role” in the release, reported the Kuwaiti al-Seyasseh newspaper on Saturday.

The families of the pilgrims abducted in Syria issued a statement on Saturday condemning the delay of their release, holding Turkey responsible for it.

They held it responsible for maintaining the pilgrims’ safety and “ensuring their safe return to Lebanon as soon as possible.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday expressed concern that interminable unrest in Syria is "contributing to instability" in neighboring Lebanon.

Armed clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime have taken place in recent weeks in both the northern city of Tripoli and the capital Beirut.

The March 14 forces’ meeting on Thursday laid the mechanism to topple Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anba newspaper on Saturday.

It said that they devised the practical and democratic measures needed to be taken at parliament and in the street in order to reach this goal.

Six people were wounded on Friday in two separate traffic accidents in Zahleh, reported the National News Agency on Saturday.

Two people were wounded in the first accident, which took place at the Zahleh Boulevard when a Mercedes crashed into a red Golf Volkswagen causing it to overturn on the road and resulting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Friday called for dialogue “for the sake of rescuing the country and overcoming obstacles,” stressing that “nothing is impossible.”

Commenting on the release on Friday of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims who were abducted in Syria’s Aleppo, Jumblat told Future News television: “The phone call between (former) premier Sheikh Saad Hariri and Speaker Nabih Berri was the most important thing, because problems can be overcome through communication and dialogue.”