Hussam Eddine al-Habash, who initiated the legal proceedings against the two anti-Syrian legislators, said in Cairo Wednesday that he cancelled the suits in response to a request by the head of the Egyptian Lawyers' Syndicate Sameh Ashour.

At a press conference in Cairo, Ashour, who also heads the Arab Lawyers' Syndicate, said he asked Habash to withdraw the proceedings in order to reduce tensions between Lebanon and Syria.

Habash in February filed a suit with a Syrian military court against Jumblat on charges of "inciting against Syria." He also accused Hamadeh, who is also Telecommunications Minister and journalist Fares Khashan of blaming Damascus for the assassination of Hariri and a string of later bombings that targeted anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon.

The Syrian court later issued warrants for the three and sent them to the Lebanese judiciary on May 22. When authorities failed to respond to the request, Damascus sent a summons for Jumblat's arrest to the Interpol.

Parliament on Tuesday condemned and rejected the Syrian judicial moves saying that the summonses against Jumblat and Hamadeh, who enjoy parliamentary immunity, violated the Lebanese constitution.

The status of the subpoena against Khashan, a leading columnist with the Hariri-owned al Mustaqbal newspaper, is still unclear.

Jumblat, a key member of the anti-Syrian March 14 alliance, is one of Damascus' harshest critics in the country. In newspaper interviews he has invited the United States to invade Syria and called for a regime change in the country.

Relations between Lebanon and Syria deteriorated sharply after the February 2005 killing of Hariri that was followed by mass demonstrations against Damascus. The protests and international pressure led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops after 29 years of military and political domination.