Energy Minister Jebran Bassil denied on Saturday that the Free Patriotic Movement has called for the closure of the border with Syria, saying the government should put an admission ceiling for refugees crossing to Lebanon.

During a press conference he held at his residence in his hometown of Batroun, Bassil said he urged the cabinet on Thursday to control the influx of refugees and limit the burden on the Lebanese state. “We never said we wanted to expel them.”

President Michel Suleiman hailed on Saturday the completion of the reconciliation process in the Mountains, in particular, in the mixed town of Brih in the Shouf.

Suleiman considered that the reconciliation fortifies the national unity and coexistence among the Lebanese as it will strengthen the ties between the residents of the Mountains and the rest of the people.

A Kuwaiti man was briefly kidnapped in the North Metn area by three gunmen disguised as police officers, the state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday.

NNA said Moeen Rashad Khorshid was driving his BMW X6 on the road of factories in the town of Mansourieh when three men wearing police jackets intercepted him.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said Saturday that the March 14 alliance will call for a parliamentary session to vote on an electoral law if a subcommittee failed to reach an agreement by the end of January.

In an interview with French-language newspaper L'Orient Le Jour, Geagea said: “The aim of March 14 it to agree on a final and consensual version of an electoral law by the end of January.”

European Union Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst expressed on Saturday her “understanding” of Lebanon's rejection to set up camps for refugees escaping the violence in Syria.

Eichhorst told An Nahar daily that she “understood the stance of the government to reject the establishment of camps” but stressed “the importance of preparing for the possible influx of more refugees.”

Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat said Saturday that dialogue was an absolute necessity after President Michel Suleiman failed once again to bring the rival March 8 and 14 camps together.

“Dialogue comes first and is required at this dangerous stage,” he said in remarks to As Safir daily, stressing that his calls for continued cooperation among Lebanon's bickering camps haven't changed.

President Michel Suleiman officially postponed on Saturday a national dialogue session set to take place at the Baabda Palace.

According to a statement issued by the presidential palace, Suleiman informed all-party talks participants the postponement of Monday's session without setting a new date.

Groups close to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime came to Lebanon in a mission to perform terrorist activities, LBCI television reported on Friday.

"These groups have resided in a northern area with Christian-majority,” LBCI said, adding that the armed clans are coordinating their activities with local political forces in the north.

The Lebanese Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani rejected on Friday calls for the deportation of Syrian refugees out of Lebanon, expressing that it is a “duty to receive them and provide them with basic needs”.

“No politician or citizen in Lebanon has the right to harass Syrian refugees or demand their deportation,” the Mufti said in a released statement.

The parents of the fighters killed in Tall Kalakh ambush and those of the Islamist inmates in Roumieh prison held a sit-in on Friday in front of Prime Minister Najib Miqati's residence in Tripoli, demanding the freeing of the detained and unveiling the fate of the missing fighters in Syria.

"We will hold another sit-in this Sunday near the al-Arida crossing to press on these issues,” the spokesman of the families of the fighters Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim announced on behalf of the protesters.