The director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has warned that al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front could expand the territories it is holding in Syria to reach Lebanon.

“As part of the larger al-Qaida network, we are concerned about the support al-Nusra Front provides to transnational terrorist attack plotting against U.S. and Western interests,” Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart told the Congress on Tuesday.

The Syrian opposition and members of President Bashar Assad's regime are reportedly holding meetings in Beirut under the auspices of Norway and the supervision of priest Riad Jarjour, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.

The daily said that “secret meetings” have been held in the Lebanese capital in presence of political and religious figures from both sides.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal is putting a foundation for future plans, stressing that the two parties hold onto U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.

The dialogue, which is being held under his sponsorship in Ain el-Tineh, is based on “honesty,” Berri told al-Mustaqbal newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.

Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry Jean-François Girault is expected to head on Monday to the Vatican to meet with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Thursday, the French diplomat, who ended a two-day official visit to Lebanon will meet with al-Rahi and senior officials at the Vatican to tackle the presidential deadlock in Lebanon.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat reportedly requested the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to delay his testimony before the tribunal in former Premier Rafik Hariri assassination in February 2005.

According to al-Akhabr newspaper published on Thursday, Jumblat filed a request before the STL to make him the last witness.

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday condemned "in the strongest terms" last week's killing of a Spanish peacekeeper in southern Lebanon and decided to set up a board of inquiry to investigate his death, a senior U.N. official said.

Wednesday's statement comes a week after Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo was killed during the Israeli military's exchange of fire with Hizbullah in a disputed border area.

Security reports Wednesday unveiled that a suicide bomber from the northeastern border town of Arsal will blow himself up against “civilian or military gatherings,” as the army continued to target jihadist gunmen positioned in the town's outskirts.

The state-run National News Agency stated that security forces have obtained information about “Mahmoud Abdul Karim Hmayyed's intention to carry out a suicide operation.”

A senior Hamas leader called Wednesday for the formation of Palestinian militant groups loyal to his Gaza-based Islamist movement in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria for attacks on Israel.

Mahmud Zahar told reporters in the Gaza Strip that Lebanese and Syrian branches of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, should launch attacks on Israel "to help us liberate Palestine".

Hizbullah on Wednesday condemned as a “brutal crime” the execution by burning of Jordanian fighter pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh at the hands of the Islamic State group, describing the IS militants as “butchers.”

“Hizbullah condemns the brutal, heinous crime that was committed by the IS gang against the Jordanian pilot,” the party said in a statement.

Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel Wednesday suggested an initiative to resolve the presidential void crisis in which he demanded supporting one of the top four Maronite leaders in order to elect a “strong and capable president.”

After meeting the Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry Jean-François Girault, Gemayel said that he “proposed an initiative based on consensus among all leaders over electing a strong and capable president.”