Hizbullah denied on Thursday accusations by the Syrian opposition that it is suppressing the anti-regime protests in Syria, deeming them as completely baseless.

It said in a statement: “These claims are aimed at stirring strife in the Arab state in order to serve foreign powers.”

Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn stressed on Thursday that the relations between the army and the UNIFIL are strong, the National News Agency reported.

Ghosn discussed with French Ambassador Denis Pietton the latest developments and bilateral relations.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat hoped on Thursday that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi would succeed in uniting Maronite ranks in Lebanon.

He said after meeting with al-Rahi and former Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in Diman: “We hope that this step would be followed by a comprehensive and constructive national dialogue” that would include all parties in Lebanon.

The military court postponed on Thursday the trial of Brig. Gen. Fayez Karam to Aug. 30, after the prosecution demanded reports about his health condition.

Al-Jadeed television reported that the general prosecution asked doctors from Dahr al-Basheq Hospital to submit reports about Karam’s health condition.

Israeli defense officials have said that the latest attack on UNIFIL stems from Hizbullah's fear that the U.N. peacekeeping force will seek greater freedom to search Lebanese villages for weapons without a previous coordination with the Lebanese army.

The bombing of the UNIFIL convoy near the southern port city of Sidon on Tuesday was likely aimed at sending a message to the peacekeepers to scale back their operations against Hizbullah, The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli defense officials as saying.

The U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Democratic Sen. John Kerry, introduced a bill to counter a Republican-crafted legislation approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to bar defense aid to Egypt, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Yemen if groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizbullah and Hamas are part of the government.

Kerry said the country faces "tremendous foreign policy and national security challenges worldwide, from helping countries manage peaceful, democratic transitions in the Middle East, to preventing violence, conflict, and terrorism from engulfing key partners, and to leading humanitarian responses to forestall drought, famine and natural disasters."

Investigators probing the roadside bombing that targeted a U.N. convoy on Tuesday have said that the bomb weighed around 6 kilograms and was detonated through an electric wire.

Security sources told Beirut dailies that the 6-kilogram TNT was hidden under dirt on the side of the road near the southern port city of Sidon when it was detonated, injuring six French peacekeepers.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat expressed fear on Thursday that targeting the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) will cause a major vacuum in the south which will benefit Israel and endanger Lebanon.

Jumblat told As Safir newspaper that the attack on the UNIFIL is “suspicious” and it might be intended to cause vacuum in the south, which will lead to a minimized presence for these forces in the area.

UNIFIL Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas has said investigators trying to determine who was responsible for a roadside bomb that injured six French peacekeepers have "a lot of evidence" that will hopefully lead to the perpetrators.

Speaking in New York, Asarta wouldn't speculate on who set off Tuesday's bomb near the southern port city of Sidon as a four-vehicle U.N. convoy was passing by.

President Michel Suleiman’s attempt to come up with an agenda for the national dialogue is becoming complicated as he moves to his summer residence in Beiteddine next week and as both the March 8 and 14 forces hold onto their stances.

Informed sources ruled out that Suleiman could put the agenda of the dialogue that he intends to hold during Ramadan. The president will move to Beiteddine on August 3 and will hold consultations there during his three-week stay to mull the viewpoints of political leaders on his invitation for dialogue, the sources told An Nahar daily.