The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc criticized on Tuesday the Change and Reform bloc and Hizbullah's ongoing boycott of presidential elections sessions, saying that such stances are “negative and unacceptable” and will only serve to prolong vacuum.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “Hizbullah and the Change and Reform bloc should reconsider their positions in order to allow Lebanese political powers the opportunity to reach national settlement.”

The Free Patriotic Movement reiterated on Tuesday its condemnation of the extension of parliament's term, saying that it is a violation of democratic practices in Lebanon.

MP Ibrahim Kanaan said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: “The FPM will appeal before the constitutional council the decision to extend parliament's term.”

A citizen claimed he was assaulted on Tuesday by the bodyguards of Syrian Social National Party chief MP Assaad Hardan, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Toufiq Fahd Zeino Saqqal, 30, was beaten by the lawmaker's bodyguards in Beirut's Qoreitem area.

Syria on Tuesday released a 26-year-old woman whose mother gave birth to her in jail and who was herself arrested this month on her way back from Lebanon, a lawyer said

"Syrian authorities on Tuesday freed Maria Bahjar Shaabo without charges," human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni told Agence France Presse.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan warned on Tuesday against the consequences of the vacuum at Baabda Palace and reiterated that terrorism has no religion.

“After the extension of parliament's term, it is time to swiftly hold the presidential elections,” Daryan said following a visit to the deputy head of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council, Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan.

A fugitive, who had fought Lebanese troops in the town of Bhannine, handed himself over to the military while another was arrested during a raid in northern Lebanon, the army said on Tuesday.

The military said in a communique that Ahmed Nsouh gave himself up when the army was carrying out a raid to search for fugitive militants.

Wanted terrorists Shadi al-Mawlawi and Osama Mansour have been injured in the latest battles with the Lebanese army in the northern city of Tripoli and are hiding among civilians, security officials said.

The officials, who were not identified, told Ad-Diyar newspaper on Monday that al-Mawlawi and Mansour are being guarded by some gunmen in a civilian neighborhood and that any military operation to capture them would inflict dozens of casualties.

The Syrian government has set three conditions to engage in a prisoners swap with the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front to guarantee the safe release of the abducted Lebanese soldiers and policemen.

Al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Tuesday that the Syrian government demanded its Lebanese counterpart to “officially appeal for help” to facilitate the release of the names enlisted by the two Islamist groups.

Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat reiterated that not all those who rebelled against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad are terrorists.

“The Syrian people chose to revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad. They wanted to get rid of his tyranny and crimes,” Jumblat, who is also a lawmaker, told al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Tuesday.

Several terrorist detainees have confessed to a plot by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to stage a ground offensive and control several regions in northern Lebanon to announce the establishment of the Islamic State in Lebanon.

A high-ranking military source told al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Tuesday that Imad Jomaa, Ahmed Miqati and several other detainees admitted that the ground offensive aimed at opening a corridor to the sea across northern Lebanon by connecting Arsal with Hermel, Dinniyeh, Akkar and ultimately the coastal city of Tripoli.