The American Task Force for Lebanon lashed out at New York-based United against Nuclear Iran (UANI) for accusing the Lebanese banking sector of laundering money for the benefit of Iran, Syria and Hizbullah, describing them as false accusations.

The ATFL argues that the campaign launched by UANI encouraged private-equity firms to unload their Lebanese holdings, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.

The United States on Thursday accused Iran of playing a "nefarious" role in the Syria conflict, one that strengthens the case for President Bashar Assad to be forced out of office.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said the alliance of Iran, Hizbullah and Assad's government was "bad for the region."

Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran diplomat and former Algerian foreign minister, is expected to be named as the new U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria in place of Kofi Annan, diplomats said Thursday.

Negotiations are still going on over the envoy's role and how the United Nations will operate in Syria amid the intensifying civil war. The mandate of the U.N. mission in the country ends on August 20.

Kidnapper of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims, Abou Ibrahim, stated on Thursday that the captives would be “released very soon, God willing,” reported LBCI television.

He told the television station: “We want Lebanese politicians to officially recognize the Syrian revolution in order to release the pilgrims.”

A Bosnian Serb leader called Thursday for Bosnia's foreign minister to resign, accusing him of violating the constitution after he voted for the latest U.N. resolution on Syria.

Nebojsa Radmanovic, the Serb member of Bosnia's joint presidency, called on Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija, a Muslim, to resign, saying that only his departure could prevent a "deterioration of the crisis in Bosnia".

Mohammed Sensawi, a rebel fighter in the Syrian border town of Bab al-Hawa, said: "You see, I have a beard but no moustache. That is normal -- I am a Salafi."

Nearby are a group of Islamist fighters who were among those who wrested control of the Bab al-Hawa crossing between Syria and Turkey from forces loyal to embattled President Bashar al-Assad.

Iran on Thursday appealed to Syria's government and armed opposition to open peace talks as it hosted a hastily arranged international conference on the conflict in its key Arab ally.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told diplomats from Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cuba, Venezuela and other nations that Tehran was prepared to also host such a dialogue, state television reported.

President Bashar Assad has appointed Wael al-Halqi as Syria's new premier, state television reported on Thursday.

"The president has signed Decree 298, appointing Wael al-Halqi as the new prime minister," the broadcaster reported.

The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey who have fled the escalating violence in their strife-torn homeland has reached more than 50,000, Turkish officials said Thursday.

The total number of the refugees was 50,227 as of Thursday after more than 5,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey this week, the country's Disaster and Emergency Administration said in a statement posted on its website.

Kuwait will not attend a conference that Iran is to host on Thursday on finding ways to end the conflict in Syria, a senior official said in a newspaper report.

"We have informed Iran officially that we are not attending," foreign ministry undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah was quoted as saying in the privately owned al-Seyassah newspaper.