The United Sates said that the presidential election is the main challenge facing Lebanon, rejecting any vacuum at the state's higher Christian post.

“The delicate situation Lebanon needs a responsible leadership that could face all the challenges and implement the country's international commitments,” deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Lawrence Silverman in a speech during a hearing for the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to call for a parliamentary session on April 22 to elect a new president, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The daily quoted well-informed sources as saying that lawmakers would be invited to head to parliament on April 22 or 23 to elect a successor to President Michel Suleiman, whose six-year term ends on May 25.

An officer and a soldier were martyred on Tuesday evening as their patrol came under fire in the northern Akkar plains.

The shooting also wounded another soldier.

Two Israeli tanks crossed the electronic fence in the southern Qatmoun region on Tuesday, while gunshots were heard near the town of Rmeish.

“Two Merkava tanks crossed the electronic fence in the Qatmoun region to the south of Rmeish,” the state-run National News Agency said.

Internal Security Forces arrested on Tuesday a man and his two sons in the Keserouan town of Sahel Alma on drug smuggling charges.

"The ISF Intelligence Bureau detained G. G. and his two sons after raiding their apartment in Sahel Alma,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee called for a general strike on Wednesday after the joint parliamentary committees failed again to resolve the dispute on the Value Added Tax.

“Tomorrow, April 9, we will respond to joint parliamentary committees' negligence towards employees. Tomorrow is a day of revolution to free the state from squandering and from financial deals,” SCC head Hanna Gharib said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea remarked on Tuesday that he is currently the LF's candidate in the presidential elections, hoping that he will soon become the March 14 camp's candidate.

He said: “Should I emerge as a victor in the elections, I will act as a president for the all the Lebanese people, but one who adopts the March 14 forces' approach.”

Rival demonstrations were staged on Tuesday over the controversial new rent law that was recently adopted by parliament.

Members of the Follow-Up Committee of the National Conference of Tenants blocked the main street of Beirut's Hamra district, demanding that an amended version of the law be put in place.

The Syrian opposition slammed on Tuesday the latest positions of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the Syrian conflict, saying that they are a reflection of the party's waning influence on the ground.

Syrian National Coalition member Mohammed Yehya Maktabi said: “Nasrallah's remarks are a sign of the great confusion Hizbullah is experiencing as a result of the great number of losses among its ranks.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Tuesday questioned the path the discussion over funding the new wage scale is taking, denouncing holding state employees responsible for “any possible financial or economic collapse” that could happen after approving the debated draft law.

"It is weird and absurd how discussion is going in circles regarding the best means to fund the new wage scale, which is a rightful demand for public employees, without touching upon the main problem in depth,” Jumblat said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website.