Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Friday that the 2013 parliamentary elections would be held based on what he called a modern law, reiterating that only dialogue salvages Lebanon and preserves stability.

In remarks to Grand Serail employees and accredited journalists, Miqati said he was highly optimistic for 2013 during which “the elections would be held on time through a modern law.”

Three Ambassadors left Syria via Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport on Thursday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

It said Romania's envoy traveled to Bucharest via Istanbul and Russia's diplomat headed to Moscow through a stopover at Dubai airport.

Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour said Friday he would refer to the Lebanese Foreign Minister a response to the Syrian envoy over his recent accusations that the ministry was involved in helping “extremist Salafist organizations.”

Abou Faour told al-Joumhouria daily that he drafted a letter to respond to the memo that Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali handed recently to Mansour.

Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel refused Friday to set conditions on President Michel Suleiman, assuring that he will attend the upcoming all-party talks called for by the President out of respect for the presidency, the As Safir daily said.

Gemayel, of the March 14 alliance, said “I refuse to set conditions on President of the Republic. Even though the dialogue committee was mainly formed to tackle the issue of Hizbullah's arms but we were also addressing other issues out of national responsibility.”

President Michel Suleiman called on Friday for holding the elections based on the winner-takes-all system if parliament failed to agree on a new draft-law but said the legislature could be later dissolved and polls held if a new law was adopted.

“Everyone is doubting whether the parliament would represent the Lebanese fairly,” he told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour warned Friday that meddling in Syria's internal affairs will only “prolong” the crisis further, pointing out that Syrian refugees in Lebanon are a “definite burden” on the Lebanese state, the An Nahar daily reported.

The daily quoted Mansour as telling the Russian Novosti News Agency that “large numbers of Syrian refugees are now in Lebanon which undoubtedly constitute a large burden on the Lebanese state.”

A national dialogue session scheduled to be held on January 7 is likely to face the same fate of its predecessor after the March 14 opposition alliance threw the ball in President Michel Suleiman's court again saying the resignation of the government is a prerequisite for its attendance of the talks.

Baabda palace sources told An Nahar daily published on Friday that “the opposition can't throw the ball of the cabinet change in the president's court by linking the issue to dialogue.”

An army patrol found on Thursday Israeli-made mortar shells and artillery in the southern town of al-Zrariyeh.

"The mortar shells that were found were set to explode," MTV reported.

One person was killed on Thursday in an armed dispute in the Bekaa region, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Ali Suleiman al-Moussawi was killed in the town of Masa in the outskirts of the town of Ali al-Nahri when a man identified as M.T. opened fire at him and his brother Hussein.

Electricite du Liban contract workers threatened on Thursday to resume strikes to protest the cabinet's procrastination to carry out their demands.

A delegation representing the contract workers held an “urgent” meeting with head of the General Labor Confederation Ghassan Ghosn, warning that they will escalate their endeavors if the government failed to carry out an agreement concerning their full-time employment.