Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare refused to postpone the release of a new indictment until the renewal of the STL’s cooperation protocol, according to al-Liwaa newspaper published Monday.

An opposition parliamentary source told the daily that Bellemare’s discussions with Lebanese officials during his farewell visit to Beirut last week increased the political tension in the country.

Several families in the northern Lebanese border towns of Mashta Hassan and Mashta Hammoud have received information that two Lebanese citizens and a Syrian man were killed and two Syrians wounded when they came under gunfire on the al-Jaafariyat bridge in the Syrian town of Tal Kalakh, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Sunday, as another report spoke of a 9-strong Lebanese armed group led by an Iraqi man.

NNA said the “unconfirmed reports have sparked a major tumult in both border towns, to which local and foreign media outlets have flocked in a bid to scrutinize the authenticity of these reports.”

Fierce clashes approached the Syrian capital on Sunday as fresh violence across the country killed at least 59 civilians, 31 regime troops and nine army deserters, according to activists.

Regime forces fired heavy artillery and mortar rounds against the Damascus suburbs of Douma, Saqba, Irbin and Hamouriyeh and were locked in close battle with rebel fighters emboldened by a fresh wave of desertions, activists said.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani condemned on Saturday the attempts by some parties to destabilize the security in Lebanon.

“We demand an end to political assassinations in Lebanon,” Qabbani stressed in a statement.

A two-storey building collapsed on Friday in the Akkar town of Bebnin, reportedly leaving one person wounded.

“The collapsed building in Bebnin belongs to citizen Zakariya Soufan and it was inhabited by six people; however, the divine providence rescued everyone,” Al-Manar television reported.

Syrian forces on Friday raided the rebellious city of Homs and shot dead at least 60 people across the country, activists said, as protesters took to the streets under the slogan "The Right to Self-defense," which refers to their support for the rebel Free Syrian Army.

The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces shot dead 60 people including five children, three women and three army deserters.

The deadlock on judicial appointments hasn’t been solved yet as President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun continue to hold onto their own candidates for the post of the head of the Higher Judicial Council.

An Nahar daily quoted Suleiman’s visitors as saying on Friday that the appointments should not be in a state of stalemate under any excuse. “Differences of opinion should not prevent the process of necessary appointments in the state.”

Eleven Iranian pilgrims have been kidnapped in unrest-swept Syria, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, calling on Damascus to help secure their release.

"According to our information, 11 Iranian pilgrims travelling by road to Damascus were kidnapped by an unknown group," said ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.

Israel's former army chief Gabi Ashkenazi said Thursday that no Sunni-led government will ever go as far with Iran and Hizbullah as Syrian President Bashar Assad did.

During the conference, which was organized by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv University, the former army chief said that “there were vast and untrue estimates stating that the primary country equipping Hizbullah with weapons is Iran, while the truth was that Syria is equipping Hizbullah.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Thursday the importance of reaching a political solution to the Syrian crisis, adding that the Arab League deal is the only solution available, reported the Russian news agency Novosti.

“I discussed importance of a political solution according to the Arab League plan”, Jumblat said to LBC television later Thursday night, adding that “ I know that we have entered into violence and counter violence in Syria, But Russia has to condemn the Syrian regime for the violence because it was the initiator.”