It’s official! Lebanon is still a priority for the U.S. although President Barack Obama did not address the situation in the country in his “historic” speech on Thursday.

“The democratic changes in the region started in Lebanon in 2005,” U.S. embassy spokesman Ryan Gliha said about the Cedar Revolution that drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon in the aftermath of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

A keynote speech by President Barack Obama on U.S. Middle East policy offered nothing new but simply reaffirmed Washington's staunch support for Israel, Syria's official SANA news agency said on Friday.

"The U.S. president's speech on the Middle East had nothing new as far as his country's policies on the peace process, the situation in Iraq or security or regional stability are concerned," the news agency said.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s amended indictment includes names of Syrian officials involved in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, said the French daily Le Figaro.

According to the article written by George Malbrunot, French intelligence agencies provided the STL with information about Syria’s involvement in the murder.

Syria denounced Thursday U.S. sanctions imposed on President Bashar al-Assad and top aides, saying they were part of long-time efforts by Washington to impose its will in the region to Israel's benefit.

The Syrian Revolution 2011, a Facebook group spurring anti-regime protests, meanwhile called for fresh demonstrations on Friday for "liberty and national unity."

Tawhid movement leader Wiam Wahhab has vowed to defend Syria against anti-regime protestors and expressed his confidence in the Syrian army’s capability to prevent a security shakeup.

During a visit to the Syrian town of al-Saboura, Wahhab slammed what he called a plot aimed at shaking the country’s security. Such a scheme would inflame the region from Iraq all the way to the Palestinian territories, he warned.

The March 14 General Secretariat expressed its concern and compassion over the flow of displaced Syrians into Lebanon, praising the efforts exerted by the Higher Relief Council and residents of Akkar to harbor them.

It urged in a statement after its weekly meeting “concerned ministries and humanitarian organizations to assist our Syrian brothers.”

Switzerland announced new sanctions against Syria on Wednesday, saying that it was following the European Union's lead in imposing an embargo on arms and on equipment used for internal repression.

"The new edict on measures against Syria includes an embargo on military assets and equipment that could be used for internal repression," said the Swiss Economy Ministry in a statement.

Al-Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz who went missing on her arrival in Syria last month is free and back in Doha, the news channel said on its website Wednesday.

"Al-Jazeera network confirmed... that she has been released, and is safe and in good health," said a statement on the website.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman is expected to arrive in Beirut on Thursday on a one-day visit where he is set to hold talks with a number of high-ranking officials during the day, sources told Naharnet on Wednesday.

He is scheduled to later meet political officials over a dinner banquet at the U.S. Embassy.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated on Tuesday that no new developments have taken place in the government formation process.

He said after the movement’s weekly meeting: “There is no desire to form a government or an initiative to facilitate its establishment.”