Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel stressed on Thursday that he will attend the upcoming all-party talks out of respect for the presidency even if the March 14 alliance rejected to engage in dialogue with the March 8 foes.

“Our stance is clear. We will attend the upcoming dialogue session as we respect the presidency but if the main figures rejected to attend it, we leave it to the president (Michel Suleiman) to take the appropriate decision” on whether to go ahead with the session or postpone it, Gemayel said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

The rebel Free Syrian Army announced on Wednesday that it will not mediate anymore for the release of the Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria's Aazaz.

The FSA's Political and Media Coordinator Louay Meqdad told Future TV: “After a meeting of the army's commanders, we have decided to end our negotiations to release the abducted”.

Syrian forces on Wednesday "killed and wounded members of a terrorist group who attempted to infiltrate from Lebanese territory via the Joussiyeh border crossing in Qusayr's countryside" in Homs, Syria's state news agency SANA quoted a local source as saying.

"The group opened fire on border guards and security checkpoints in Joussiyeh's farms, before our armed forces confronted it and left most of its members dead or wounded while the others retreated to Lebanese territory," the source said.

Syrian Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar on Wednesday left for Damascus via the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport aboard a private jet, after spending one week at the American University of Beirut Medical Center for treatment of wounds he sustained in a suicide bomb attack on the interior ministry, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

“Shaar left hospital on Wednesday afternoon,” Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency quoted medical sources at AUBMC as saying.

The members of the Joint Parliamentary Committees will convene on January 8 to discuss the electoral law, the parliament's administrative department revealed on Wednesday.

Lawmakers said after their weekly talks with Speaker Nabih Berri that the AMAL Movement leader encourages these discussions and is optimistic about their outcome.

A gang has been recently stealing pickup trucks and selling them to Syrian opposition members, media reports said on Wednesday.

A security source told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that police stations in the neighborhoods of Ain el-Rummaneh and Shiyyah in Beirut's southern suburbs opened an investigation into the thefts.

Tripoli municipal chief Nader Ghazal announced on Wednesday that he would submit his resignation after New Year to protest political meddling and what he called widespread corruption.

“I am comfortable with my decision to resign and I won't accept to become a false witness to the events in Tripoli,” he said about the dispute between members of the municipal council who are loyal to several political leaders in the city.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat revealed on Wednesday that the March 14 alliance is ready to engage in dialogue with President Michel Suleiman solely, rejecting to resumption of the all-party talks with the March 8 foes.

“Resuming the national dialogue will not defuse tension,” Fatfat told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed on Wednesday that Turkey is not behind the abduction of Lebanese pilgrims in Syria, a day after the families of the men held a sit-in near the Baabda Palace to demand President Michel Suleiman and the government to resolve the case.

"Turkey isn't responsible for the kidnapping of the men in Syria," Mansour said in comments to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

Opposition MP Marwan Hamadeh said Wednesday the formation of a salvation government is the first of three conditions set by the March 14 alliance to return to the national dialogue table.

President Michel Suleiman “knows what's the alternative to the resumption of dialogue,” Hamadeh told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).