The extension of parliament's mandate has become a foregone conclusion after both Speaker Nabih Berri and al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora hinted that there was no option but to extend the term of lawmakers despite a veto by influential Christian figures.

Saniora told al-Mustaqbal daily in remarks published on Wednesday that he discussed with Berri a day earlier the extension of the legislature's tenure.

Bishop Samir Mazloum denied on Wednesday reports saying that a meeting will be held for the Maronite leaders at Bkirki to discuss the presidential deadlock, revealing that dialogue between Maronites reached a dead end.

Israeli forces fired eight flares Tuesday evening from their posts in the occupied Shebaa Farms towards the nearby Mount Hermon, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

The flares were fired above the al-Marsad post and Mt. Hermon's western heights, NNA said.

Khaled and Walid al-Hujeiri were released on Tuesday evening after they were kidnapped in separate incidents in the Bekaa last week.

Khaled was abducted along with Mustafa al-Hujeiri from the town of Taalbaya while Walid was nabbed along with two other members of the al-Hujeiri family in the Masharii al-Qaa border area near Arsal.

Hizbullah captive fighter Imad Ayyad, who is being held by the Free Syrian Army, has addressed a second video message to his father, in which he expresses surprise over “lack of efforts” to secure his release and stresses the need to communicate with Hizbullah officials.

“I'm doing well and I'm being treated in a very good manner,” Ayyad says in the YouTube video.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday stressed the need to "follow a single standard in the implementation of security plans in all regions and towards all parties and political forces,” while calling for the election of a “consensual” president according to March 14's recent initiative.

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc also condemned “the attacks on the army and its officers and soldiers,” stressing that “this behavior serves the goals of Lebanon's enemies.”

Kataeb Party MP Sami Gemayel held talks Tuesday in Jeddah with Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

Gemayel also met with al-Mustaqbal movement leader MP Saad Hariri, according to a statement issued by Kataeb.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi reiterated on Tuesday his rejection of the proposed extension of parliament's term, noting that it would violate the constitution and the will of the people.

He said upon his return from Rome: “I told Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri that he would be violating the constitution by seeking the extension.”

A shepherd was killed on Tuesday in an explosion whose nature is still unclear in Bekaa's Adous plain.

According to the National News Agency, "a loud unidentified explosion was heard in Adous plain, which led to the death of Abdullah Niraz Arafat, who is a naturalized citizen."

The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday vowed to resort to “all legal measures” to reject the proposed extension of the parliament's term, stressing that the issue “will not be a walk in the park” for the proponents of such a move.

“We are with holding the presidential vote, but it must be preceded by a (constitutional) amendment that allows direct election by the people,” the bloc's secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan announced after the weekly meeting in Rabieh.