State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered on Wednesday the arrest a number of inmates over sectarian threats made from al-Qobbeh, Baalbek, and Roumieh prisons, reported the National News Agency.

He ordered the arrest of five Roumieh prisoners and an undisclosed number of Qobbeh jail inmates.

Military Tribunal Judge Imad al-Zein called on Wednesday for the death penalty against more than 12 suspects for planting bombs in the eastern Bekaa valley.

Al-Zein made the request in an indictment he issued against 14 Lebanese and Syrian suspects, seven of whom are in custody.

An Israeli army unit crossed the barbed wire along the border with southern Lebanon on Wednesday, combing the area and firing smoke grenades, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said the 12-member unit entered around 50 meters near the border town of Mais al-Jabal.

The probe into the attack on Iran's embassy in Beirut in addition to other issues linked to Syria's war are on the agenda of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's talks with Lebanese officials.

Zarif will visit Beirut next Monday, the Lebanese foreign ministry said.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has said Hizbullah did not possess some components of supersonic Yakhont rockets as claimed by U.S. officials.

Yaalon told reporters on Tuesday that as far as Israel knew, Hizbullah did not possess the weapon. 

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam said he was betting on the efforts exerted by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and the advisors of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Speaker Nabih Berri to clinch a deal on the new government.

In remarks to As Safir daily published on Wednesday, Salam denied that a final agreement has been reached among the rival parties on the form and shape of the cabinet.

Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated his rejection to isolate Hizbullah or any other party from the new government, confirming that efforts are underway to form an all-embracing cabinet.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published on Wednesday, Berri said: “I welcome anything except for the isolation of any party.”

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour received on Tuesday an invitation from U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to attend the Geneva II summit on January 22.

The multinational opening session will be held in Montreux, a city northeast of Geneva, before talks involving the opposing Syrian delegations and U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi are to continue in Geneva from January 24.

President Michel Suleiman agreed on Tuesday to give a chance to discuss the 8-8-8 cabinet lineup but did not commit to ruling out forming a neutral council of ministers.

Suleiman's stances came in a meeting with the adviser of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hussein Khalil, and Caretaker Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, who's the political adviser to Speaker Nabih Berri.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel assured on Tuesday that the international community “sympathizes” with Lebanon and supports holding the presidential elections on time.

"Some groups are trying to push Lebanon towards vacuum but I think local leaders have enough awareness to ensure holding the presidential elections on time,” Gemayel said in an interview with the Washington-based al-Hurra television station that was published on the state-run National News Agency's website.