The Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major General Paolo Serra, chaired on Wednesday a tripartite meeting with senior officials from the Lebanese and Israeli armies at the U.N. position at Ras al-Naqoura, announced UNIFIL in a statement.

“It was a special tripartite meeting called at the initiative of the force commander and with the agreement of the representatives of the parties to discuss the security situation in the Shabaa Farms area following the Israeli army’s decision to construct a patrol road,” it said.

The various land transport unions in Lebanon will go on strike on Thursday morning in protest against the rise in fuel prices.

The strike was supposed to be held last week, but it was postponed at the request of a ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Najib Miqati, which was seeking to find a solution that would appease the drivers but to no avail.

The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday the heated political and “sectarian rhetoric” that was used during last week’s general parliament session, blaming the Hizbullah and Change and Reform bloc MPs of being behind the tensions.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The two blocs are responsible for the tensions that serve the Syrian regime.”

The government approved on Wednesday a mechanism that would allow Lebanese expatriates to vote in the 2013 parliamentary elections and approved a reduction in the weight of the Arabic bread pack to appease bakeries.

The government is scheduled to hold a meeting at the Grand Serail next Wednesday to discuss the details of the mechanism and ways to implement it, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq told reporters after the session held at the presidential palace.

Hizbullah international relations officer Ammar Moussawi slammed United Nations Chief Ban Ki-moon’s semi-annual report on the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559.

Moussawi expressed irritation during a meeting with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly over the language used by Banin his report concerning the arms of the resistance.

Lebanese security forces have freed two Saudi nationals kidnapped and tortured for eight days in an apartment on the outskirts of Beirut, the kingdom's official SPA news agency reported Wednesday.

Citing Saudi's ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Awadh Asiri, the report said Tawfiq and Abdullah al-Shaqaqeen, were "lured and tricked by a gang loyal to an Arab state," which "held and tortured them for eight days," adding that the kidnappers demanded a "large ransom" in exchange for their release.

Syrian President Bashar Assad stressed on Tuesday that his country will deal according to its conditions with the Lebanese political powers, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

“Damascus will deal according to its conditions with the Lebanese political powers,” Assad told a senior Syrian opposition figure.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon President Judge David Baragwanath is expected to preside a confidential meeting for the Appeals Chamber at 10:00 am Wednesday, al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

The meeting is set to tackle the defense team’s reservations on the final date set for the trials in absentia before receiving the complete accusation files.

The March 14 forces are expected to hold a second meeting at Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea’s residence in Maarab to set the stage for the announcement of the national council, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the daily, Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel held talks on Tuesday with the members of the committee tasked by the March 14 coalition to form the council - MPs Marwan Hamadeh, Elie Marouni and Dori Chamoun and ex-lawmakers Elias Attallah and Ghattas Khoury.

Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz warned on Wednesday that a nuclear Iran would give itself freedom of action against Israel through Hizbullah and other militants.

That freedom might be expressed "against us, via the force Iran will project toward its clients: Hizbullah in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad in Gaza,” Gantz told Israeli dailies in Independence Day interviews.