Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour announced on Saturday that Syria will hand over the bodies of three Lebanese killed in the Tall Kalakh ambush on Sunday.

“The three bodies belong to Khodr Mustafa Alameddine, Malek Ziad al-Hajj Dib and Abdul Hamid Ali Agha,” revealed a statement issued by Mansour's office.

Mufti of Tripoli and the North Sheikh Malek al-Shaar denied on Saturday that he was after a seat in Dar al-Fatwa but stressed willingness to serve Sunnis if there was consensus on him.

In remarks to An Nahar daily, al-Shaar, who traveled to Paris following information that he could be the target of an assassination plot, said that he hasn't announced his candidacy to any post in the Dar al-Fatwa elections.

A Lebanese Shiite pilgrim, who is among nine men held by rebels in Syria since May, urged in a new videotape their families to exercise self-restraint and reiterated the call for al-Mustaqbal MP Oqab Saqr to negotiate their release.

In the tape released by Syrian rebels in the town of Aazaz after midnight Friday, Ali Zgheib said that he along with the other “eight Lebanese are doing good.”

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed the necessity to cut the road short on strife before it aggravates among the Muslim community and assured that the cabinet will not collapse, As Safir daily reported on Saturday.

“Cutting the road short on strife among Muslims is an utmost priority and obligation,” the newspaper quoted Nasrallah as telling hundreds of academic students on Friday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat warned both the parliamentary majority and the opposition that they will not be able to make political gains and change the balance imposed in parliament.

“If you think that the elections will allow any team to twist the arm of the other party, then you are mistaken,” Jumblat, who is the head of the National Struggle Front bloc, told As Safir newspaper published Saturday.

President Michel Suleiman told the Mufti of Tripoli and the north Sheikh Malek al-Shaar on Friday that he is following up on the alleged threats the clergyman is receiving and that made him decide to extend his stay in Europe.

"I have been contacted by several officials advising me not to return to Lebanon,” al-Shaar told the Central News Agency, revealing that among the callers was Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee announced on Friday that it will be holding a rally on Monday in front of the presidential palace in Baabda, reported the National News Agency.

The demonstration will held at the same time as a cabinet session, which is set to tackle the new wages scale and the sources of its funding.

The United States is deeply concerned with the continued violence in the northern city of Tripoli and “attempts to spark violence” in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jadideh neighborhood, said the U.S. Embassy via Twitter on Friday.

“We call on all parties to exercise restraint and respect for Lebanon’s stability and security,” it said.

President Michel Suleiman noted on Friday that democracy in the Arab world cannot be stabilized without establishing an independent Palestinian state.

He added: “The participation of the minorities of the Middle East in political life will also stabilize democracy in the region.”

Army units continued their deployment in the northern city of Tripoli on Friday as they requested the residents to cooperate with them in informing them of any suspicious activity in the area.

The Army Command had described the last round of fighting on Thursday night as the worst the city had seen in years.