United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly expressed Wednesday his concern of the security situation in the northern city of Tripoli, urging for “more lasting solutions” to end the clashes.

Speaker Nabih Berri stated on Wednesday that the Baabda Palace meeting on Tuesday tackled the need to reactivate the government’s functioning.

His visitors quoted him as saying: “The gatherers agreed to tackling the government spending dispute and the need to complete the 2012 state budget.”

The Higher Islamic Shiite Council urged on Thursday the families of 11 pilgrims kidnapped in Syria to exercise self-restraint and remain calm.

Following a meeting held between the deputy head of the Council, Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, and the families of the abductees, a statement urged Turkey to intensify its efforts to release the men.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed on Wednesday that the March 14 camp insists on holding the 2013 parliamentary elections on time.

He said before an LF delegation: “Hizbullah will do all it can to prevent the staging of the elections.”

Clashes broke out Wednesday between Syrian troops and residents of the border town of Arsal in eastern Lebanon after a Lebanese man was killed and two wounded at dawn along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Security sources said that rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons were fired during the clashes at Kherbet Daoud, an area on the outskirts of Arsal.

Hizbullah and al-Jamaa al-Islamiya held talks on Wednesday on the need to maintain cooperation to ensure unity on the Islamic scene in Lebanon.

They stressed in a statement “the need to exert all efforts to preserve civil and national peace.”

The Syrian intelligence arrested Wednesday the head of municipality of the border town of al-Rama in the northern Wadi Khaled area of Akkar province after he entered Syria through the General Security checkpoint, security sources and residents said.

Intelligence officers are questioning Khaled Souaidan after arresting him around 9:00 am, the sources and residents told LBC TV.

Justice Minister Shaqib Qortbawi revealed on Wednesday that he is at the stage of processing the names of the judges that are qualified to succeed General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza.

“I hope that we will not witness any dispute over the names,” Qortbawi told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday held talks with the leaders of Qatar and the UAE as part of his attempts to persuade several Gulf countries to reconsider their travel warnings to Lebanon.

In Doha, Suleiman briefed Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on his recent call for resuming all-party talks, in line with the 2008 Doha Agreement, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

President Michel Suleiman was on Wednesday still waiting for the March 14 opposition’s stance on his invitation for the national dialogue, five days before Lebanon’s top officials meet at Baabda palace to resolve the country’s lingering problems.

In remarks to As Safir daily, Suleiman said he hasn’t yet received a final answer from the opposition on its participation in the all-party talks. “But I believe it is not in the interest of any side not to participate in the dialogue or to obstruct it.”