United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon warned that the threat of the conflict in Syria might spill over into Lebanon amid the rise in security incidents in the country.

“We are very much worried about this kind of spillover effect,” Ban reiterated in an interview with CNN on Thursday night.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati praised on Friday Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for their efforts in ensuring the release of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims who were released from captivity in Syria earlier on Friday.

He said in a statement: “We hope this occasion will enable the Lebanese to overcome all obstacles that prevented them from holding dialogue given the goodwill showed by all sides.”

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to tackle on Friday the latest developments in Lebanon and the region.

He will deliver his speech via video link to mark “Liberation Day” at a rally that will be held in the southern town of Bint Jbeil.

The request of the March 14 forces for the formation of a neutral salvation government during a conference held on Thursday came after three weeks of preparations when the opposition discovered that the Syrian regime is preparing to ignite tension in Lebanon, high-ranking March 14 sources said Friday.

“The preparation for the meeting began around three weeks ago when it became clear that the Syrian regime had decided that the decision of steering Lebanon clear (of the crisis in Syria) was over and that this regime was preparing something for Lebanon,” sources told An Nahar daily.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Friday that the price of his resignation would be consensus among Lebanese on the dialogue table.

“I am ready to do whatever (the officials) agree on during the dialogue,” Miqati told al-Liwaa newspaper.

Top Lebanese officials rejected conditions set by the March 14 opposition for the resumption of dialogue, saying the March 14 coalition should participate in the all-party talks without providing any excuses.

“Before calling for (the formation of) a neutral cabinet, let it first participate in the dialogue,” Speaker Nabih Berri’s visitors quoted him as saying.

Speaker Nabih Berri urged Iraq and Iran to limit the visits for Lebanese Shiites pilgrims to the holy sites in those two countries to flights by air.

An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday that the speaker contacted Iraqi Ambassador to Lebanon Omar al-Barzanji and Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi to demand them to halt all visits by land.

President Michel Suleiman on Thursday announced that he will call for a national dialogue conference to be held in the second week of June, urging the March 14 forces to heed his call without linking it to the issue of forming a new government.

“Of course I will call for dialogue and I have already voiced several calls and informed the leaders of the topics: the defense strategy concerning when and how the Resistance's arms must be used; the implementation of the previous resolutions as to removing Palestinian arms outside camps and organizing them inside camps; and the removal of weapons from Lebanese cities and towns,” said Suleiman in an interview on LBC.

The March 14 forces on Thursday called for forming a “neutral, salvation government,” revealing that they will “very soon submit an initiative” to President Michel Suleiman that is “aimed at confronting the attempt to ruin Lebanon.”

“The Syrian regime wants to destroy the temple over everyone's heads and it is depicting Lebanon as an incubator of terrorism,” said a statement recited by former premier Fouad Saniora following an emergency meeting for the March 14 forces at the Center House in downtown Beirut.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi voiced on Thursday his support for the various calls for holding dialogue in Lebanon away from the threat of arms.

He said: “I do not support calls for the resignation of the government.”