President Michel Suleiman urged the Syrian authorities on Thursday to release the two Lebanese farmers who were kidnapped a day earlier in the border region of al-Abboudiyeh as the Syrian army abducted another citizen later on Thursday.

The Syrian army kidnapped Yehya Mohammed Fleiti in the border town of Arsal on Thursday afternoon.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati highlighted on Thursday Lebanon’s diversity, saying that it is an “example of the convergence of civilizations.”

He said: “The international community must help Lebanon preserve its diversity.”

The head of the Independence Movement Michel Mouawad visited Saudi Arabia this week at an invitation by its Foreign Ministry, announced his press office in a statement.

He held talks with deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah on the latest Lebanese and regional developments.

Iran is plotting attacks on politicians and diplomats in several countries, including Lebanese figures, the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper reported on Thursday.

The daily said that U.S. media is expected to publish in the upcoming weeks reports about an Iranian network, which has planned to carry out assassination attempts.

Iran is using commercial aircraft to smuggle weapons and explosives to Syria and Hizbullah in Lebanon, the German broadcaster ZDF reported Wednesday.

Citing Western security sources, ZDF said that Iran Air and Yas Air have repeatedly used aircraft designated as passenger planes to transport weapons to the Assad regime and Hizbullah.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday held three-hour talks in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging Ankara to carry on with its “satisfactory and ongoing” efforts to secure the release of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims abducted in Syria’s Aleppo on May 22.

“Mr. Erdogan stressed that Turkey will continue to exert intensified efforts to rescue the Lebanese citizens held in Syria,” Miqati’s press office said in a statement issued after the meeting.

Syria's Permanent Representative to the U.N. Bashar al-Jaafari reiterated that his country is confronting “terrorist groups” that are trained, protected and funded by some Arab and regional countries, including Lebanon.

“Some Arab and regional countries should stop providing these groups with funds, weapons, political support and media coverage,” Jaafari said on Wednesday in a press conference held after a U.N. Security Council session.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil warned on Thursday that the electricity crisis in Lebanon might worsen during the upcoming days as Electricite du Liban's contract employees’ strike is affecting the company’s work.

“The full-time employees have informed me that they can’t tolerate the ongoing situation as the strike is affecting their work,” Bassil told As Safir newspaper.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati gave an ultimatum to cabinet ministers to resolve the controversial funding of state projects by next Wednesday, media reports said.

Beirut dailies quoted on Thursday sources as saying that Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi proposed in coordination with Miqati the allocation of 100 million dollars as treasury loans to carry out development projects in their hometown of Tripoli in the North.

U.N.-Arab League Special Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan on Thursday held talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda palace on his peace plan for strife-torn Syria and the issue of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims abducted on May 22 in the Syrian province of Aleppo.

During the talks with Suleiman, Annan “evaluated his plan for Syria and the stages it has gone through,” NBN television reported.