Prime Minister Najib Miqati discussed with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu the latest developments regarding the 11 kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims in Syria.

Miqati contacted Davutoglo after media reports said that several of the 11 men have escaped after the area where they were held came under severe shelling.

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Saturday that the tripartite formula of the people, army and the resistance requires some clarification, noting that the goal behind the defense strategy is to “confronting Israeli aggression against Lebanese territories.”

“We have already stressed several times in ministerial statements the importance of the cooperation among the people, the army and the resistance but we need to clarify the means of cooperation,” Suleiman said from his summer residence in Beiteddine.

The European Union called on Lebanon Saturday not to send Syrian refugees back across the border, expressing concern that they were not being protected and could face torture if forced to return.

A statement issued on behalf of the top EU diplomat, Catherine Ashton, said she was "concerned by the recent reports of expulsion by the Lebanese authorities of Syrian nationals to Syria."

State-run Electricite du Liban urged its employees to resume work on Monday and said they should be accompanied by security forces while returning to their offices in case of any damage.

The company said all the employees should resume work to carry out their unfinished business to guarantee a smooth functioning of the institution and serve citizens.

Conflicting reports emerged on Saturday on whether the 11 Lebanese pilgrims who were abducted in May escaped their captors after the area that they were held in came under severe shelling.

LBC TV station didn’t specify the number of the abductees who have escaped, it said there was initial information that the captors moved the remaining pilgrims to another location.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel advised bickering Lebanese politicians on Saturday to sign a political document that would lift the cover off gunmen in Beirut and the northern city of Tripoli.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3), Charbel said the national dialogue participants who are scheduled to meet at President Michel Suleiman’s summer residence in Beiteddine on Aug. 16 should sign the document pending the withdrawal of arms from the streets.

One person was injured on Saturday when cannabis farmers opened fire on a van transporting workers to help the Internal Security Forces destroy cannabis fields in the eastern Bekaa valley, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said Hussein Nayef Salim, 57, was wounded in the waist after around 15 bullets hit the van in the town of Hawsh Barada in Baalbek.

Top March 8 majority alliance leaders might hold a meeting after their relations were threatened over the crisis of Electricite du Liban contract workers, the coalition’s leadership sources said.

The sources told As Safir newspaper on Saturday that the possibility of holding such a meeting between Speaker Nabih Berri, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun and Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh is under discussion.

The Lebanese authorities decided to stop deporting Syrians following local and international pressure on the government in the aftermath of the deportation of 14 people by the General Security Department, An Nahar daily reported on Saturday.

The newspaper said that an agreement was reached among President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and the major political parties in the government to stop the deportations even if some judicial cases allow such a move.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat denied on Saturday that he is holding talks with March 14 national dialogue participants to get their signatures on a memo he seeks to hand over to President Michel Suleiman.

“We are seeking to get the signatures on a petition to denounce the Syrian violation along the Lebanese border,” Fatfat tolf the Central News Agency.