A group of suspects arrested for having ties with the Fatah al-Islam terrorist network was released on Tuesday and several more will be set free in the next few days to reach their number to 16, An Nahar newspaper reported.

The daily said that three Lebanese – Khodr Merhi, Samir Daoud and Bilal al-Masri – arrived in the southern port city of Tripoli at around 8:30 pm Tuesday accompanied by their lawyer Osama Shaaban.

Dozens of residents of several Bekaa Valley towns staged a demonstration Tuesday after the evening Tarawih prayers at the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria to “voice solidarity with the Syrian people and condemn the repression” of Syrian protesters at the hands of their country’s regime, Voice of Lebanon radio network (100.5) reported.

The demonstrators stood a few meters away from the border crossing, carrying banners and shouting slogans against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, amid a heavy security deployment, the radio network said.

The Mustaqbal bloc criticized on Tuesday Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour’s trip to Syria on Sunday, saying that it is reminiscent of the “hateful” days of Syria’s hegemony over Lebanon.

It also praised in a statement after its weekly meeting: “Parliament’s approval of a law on its maritime borders, which will help facilitate and speed up the steps needed to pave the way for drilling for oil in the Mediterranean Sea.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun demanded on Tuesday the Syrian people to return to their senses, calling on them “resort to the ballot boxes instead of resorting to murder and massacres” in dealing with its internal affairs.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “The terrorism is being committed by the (armed) organizations and not the state as they are saying.”

Lebanon has been witnessing a notable diplomatic activity concerning the situation of European nationals in Syria, with a number of embassies in Lebanon taking precautionary measures to confront any dramatic development in the Syrian arena which might require the evacuation of foreigners from Syria into Lebanon, the Central News Agency reported Tuesday.

European diplomats have asked Lebanon to facilitate the entry of Europeans through the Lebanese-Syrian land border crossings and their departure from the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport to their countries, well-informed sources told the news agency.

Fatah al-Islam has appointed Usama al-Shahabi as the new leader of the group after the death of its former leader Abdul Rahman Awad who was killed in an army ambush in Shtoura in 2010, revealed a Fatah source to the Central News Agency on Tuesday.

Confessions of two Fatah al-Islam members revealed that al-Shahabi was the mastermind of the failed assassination attempt against Fatah's Lebanon commander Mahmoud Issa, alias "Al-Lino", added the source.

A debate has erupted in France between sides supporting the withdrawal of French troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and others who advocate maintaining them.

Diplomatic sources told the Central News Agency on Tuesday that the former are questioning the purpose of retaining the troops in light of the repeated attacks against it by terrorist groups whose identity and goals remain unknown.

The Lebanese authorities have reported to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on the measures that they have taken to search for, arrest, and transfer those accused in the February 14, 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, said the STL press office in a statement.

Lebanese Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza submitted his report Tuesday, it added.

The Israeli air force has begun using unmanned aircraft to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions over Israeli gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea out of fear that they will be targeted by Hizbullah, The Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday.

The Israeli daily said the decision to deploy the drones came after the Shiite party warned Israel that it would protect Lebanon’s maritime sovereignty.

Pirme Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Tuesday that the critical developments in the region should force the Lebanese to fortify the internal scene against any dangers that might spread into the country

He asked during a Ramadan iftar: “How can Lebanon benefit from getting involved in the regional developments?”