The press office of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Friday responded to “the escalating and coordinated campaign against the Mustaqbal Movement and some of its MPs.”

“The Syrian ambassador to Lebanon knows very well that the Lebanese and Syrian states have a judicial agreement that regulates the judicial relation between the two countries,” the press office said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch accused Syrian security and intelligence services Thursday of torturing many of the hundreds of protesters detained since anti-government demonstrations began last month.

Lawyers, activists and journalists who have endorsed or promoted the protests have also been detained, the rights group said.

Iran has smuggled more weapons to Hizbullah, Syria, and Palestinian groups in recent months, taking advantage of the wave of unrest in the Middle East, reported the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday.

Because international attention is focused mainly on regime changes and local intelligence services are busy protecting their rulers, the Iranians have been able to act with greater impunity, it said

Former minister Ahmed Fatfat said Hizbullah is valuable in solving internal conflicts but becomes a problem when dealing with regional issues, revealed a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Friday.

The WikiLeaks cable dated May 23, 2006, spoke of a meeting between then Acting Interior Minister Fatfat, then U.S. State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism Henry Crampton, then U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman, ISF chief Ashraf Rifi, and an American diplomat.

Caretaker PM Saad Hariri believed that the Syrian and Iranian regimes are the obstacles behind the deteriorating peace process in the Middle East, revealed a WikiLeakes cable published in al-Akhbar newspaper on Friday.

Hariri stated that Israel is “protecting” the Syrian regime because it fears the unknown.

Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi denied on Thursday that the security forces had confiscated two cars on the Lebanese-Syrian border that were attempting to smuggle arms to Syria, said media reports on Friday.

Reports said on Thursday that the border patrol had arrested a Lebanese and Syrian while they were trying to cross the border to Syria in cars loaded with arms in the eastern Bekaa region.

Syria denied on Thursday a claim by the United States that Iran was helping it to crack down on demonstrations for more freedom and political reforms that have left more than 100 people dead.

The Syrian foreign ministry denied as "totally false" the U.S. charge, challenging the U.S. State Department to publish any evidence in that regard, Syria's state-run news agency SANA reported.

Hundreds of trucks have been held up at a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria amid heightened security measures enforced as the Syrian regime faces unprecedented protests.

"Between 400 and 500 trucks, most with Syrian or Jordanian license plates, have been held at the Abboudiyeh border crossing for hours for inspection by Syrian security forces," a Lebanese security source told Agence France Presse.

Syria's ambassador to Beirut urged Lebanese authorities on Thursday to take legal action following allegations a deputy was funding and arming protesters in Syria.

Ali Abdul Karim Ali "requested Lebanon's authorities and judiciary take action ... in order to preserve brotherly ties between the two countries," according to the transcript of an interview with Hizbullah's Intiqad website.

The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc condemned on Thursday the Mustaqbal movement’s activity, accusing it of being responsible for the problems in Lebanon.

It said in a statement: “The problems plaguing Lebanon are the result of the Mustaqbal movement’s policies and governments that have turned Lebanon into a farm” at the American administration’s mercy.