A national dialogue session was held at Beiteddine palace on Thursday during which the conferees agreed to “form a delegation comprising members of the dialogue committee with the aim of contacting the influential countries in a bid to secure the safe release of the Lebanese abductees” in Syria.

The delegation would also “stress keenness on the brotherly ties with those countries,” according to the closing statement of the dialogue session.

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora confirmed on Wednesday the March 14 camp’s participation at the national dialogue session scheduled for Thursday.

He held talks with President Michel Suleiman to inform him of the decision and discuss the latest local and regional developments.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said he would attend a national dialogue session set to be held on Thursday even if the March 14 opposition coalition decides to boycott the all-party talks.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Wednesday, Jumblat said: “I hail the president on the questions he asked as to how we could benefit from the arsenal of the resistance to defend Lebanon through a Lebanese defense strategy.”

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Tuesday the importance of holding the national dialogue which he said is the right place to discuss the national defense strategy.

He said that Thursday’s all-party talks would focus on the strategy in accordance with the official invitation to the national dialogue and the statements issued in the first and second sessions.

Several March 14 camp officials lauded the discovery of a Syrian plot to create strife in Lebanon, as revealed by former minister and MP Michel Samaha’s arrest, saying the country should cut ties with Syria, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

MP Marwan Hamadeh hoped that Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour “would highlight the development to his Arab counterparts at the Jeddah conference.”

The head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora is scheduled to hold talks on Monday with President Michel Suleiman to inform him of the March 14 camp’s position on the national dialogue, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

It said that the former premier will likely inform the president of the camp’s ongoing boycott of the dialogue, which is set to resume on Thursday.

President Michel Suleiman does not intend to postpone a national dialogue session next week if the March 14 opposition coalition boycotts it for the second time in a row, An Nahar daily reported Saturday.

The newspaper said the session will be held on Thursday at Beiteddine palace whether March 14 officials attend or not but Suleiman would not brief the conferees on his view of the country’s defense strategy in case of another boycott.

Former premier Fouad Saniora, head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, on Friday called on EU and U.N. officials to condemn the Lebanese government “in the strongest terms” over the recent deportation of 14 Syrians to their strife-torn country, voicing concerns that the step might be repeated in the future and stressing that the government will be held accountable.

Following separate talks with EU Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst and U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly, Saniora said: “Amid these circumstances, the timing of the operation is very suspicious, and this could be a precedent made by the Lebanese government following a request or pressures from the Syrian government to hand over these people, and thus it might be the first move and other people might be handed over.”

President Michel Suleiman presided a meeting on Monday to tackle the latest developments on the so-called telecom data handed to security agencies investigating assassination plots against Lebanese officials, al-Akhbar daily reported.

The meeting, its second since July 21, was attended by Prime Minister Najib Miqati, involved ministers and the security chiefs, the newspaper said.

A number of officials from the southern city of Sidon announced on Sunday that they have decided to call off Monday’s general strike in order to make room for government efforts to end Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir’s sit-in in the city.

The head of the Sidon merchants association Ali al-Sharif made the announcement after the meeting of political, economic and religious officials.