Iranian officials were in contact with their counterparts in Egypt to secure the passage of two warships through the Suez Canal, Tehran's English-language Press TV reported on Thursday.

The vessels intend to transit the canal, the channel's website quoted an unnamed Iranian navy official as saying.

Iran is sending two warships into the Mediterranean Sea, Israel's foreign minister said Wednesday, labeling the act a "provocation" the Jewish state cannot ignore for long.

"Tonight two Iranian warships are supposed to cross the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea on their way to Syria," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, speaking at a conference of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.

Israel's deputy Prime Minister, Dan Meridor, has hoped that “the camp of the radicals” that includes Hizbullah would be defeated in the region.

Dan Meridor, who is also Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Prague that Egyptian protesters' demands for freedom and free election were positive.

A top American Jewish leader said Monday that a secret visit he recently made to Syria could be a sign that President Bashar Assad wants to improve relations with the West.

Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, also said the international community should proceed with caution as the Arab world begins to embrace democracy.

Six years after Rafik Hariri's assassination galvanized Lebanon, sparking mass protests seen in Beirut as a model for Egypt's uprising, his legacy is faltering in a country torn by a U.N. probe of the murder.

The camp of outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain five-time premier, has since "suffered a number of setbacks," said Asaad AbuKhalil, professor at California State University and author of a political blog.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem stated on Wednesday that the process of forming a national unity government in Lebanon has reached its final stage, stressing his country’s keenness on Lebanon achieving national unity.

He said before a delegation of Kuwaiti journalists: “Stability in Lebanon lies in a national unity government that includes all segments of the society, which is what Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati is aiming to achieve.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on Wednesday said from Syria that it's time to return to “our roots and get out of isolation.”

“Our goal is to return to our environment, to our roots,” he told FPM supporters after taking part in a mass marking St. Maroun Day in Brad, Aleppo.

Russia on Tuesday called for the U.N. Security Council to carry out a mission to the Middle East, including Lebanon and Egypt.

The Security Council has not visited the troubled region for more than three decades. Russia's U.N. ambassador Vitaly Churkin said council envoys should go to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun traveled to Aleppo on Tuesday to participate in the celebrations of Saint Maroun Day in Brad the next day.

Caretaker Ministers Jebran Bassil and Fadi Abboud, and Change and Reform bloc MPs Ibrahim Kenaan, Nabil Nicolas, Naji Gharious and Fadi al-Aawar accompanied Aoun.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s press office denied a media report that Miqati was planning to visit Damascus on Tuesday for talks with the Syrian leadership on the formation of the Lebanese cabinet.

“This report is not true because PM-designate Miqati will not make any visit abroad before forming the government,” his press office said in a statement.