Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on Wednesday voiced rejection of a call by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly for the Lebanese authorities to provide protection for the members of the rebel Free Syrian Army who flee to Lebanon, as President Michel Suleiman called the Higher Defense Council to convene on Thursday to discuss the latest developments related to the Lebanese-Syrian border.

“Lebanon cannot heed such a request; it rather acts according to its interest, security situation and capabilities, and we cannot provide support to armed elements stationed in the Lebanese territory,” Mansour said in an interview on Al-Manar television.

Former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora noted on Wednesday that some sides in Lebanon who are accusing others of meddling in the Syrian crisis are in fact guilty of these charges.

He said: “Those calling for the freedom in Lebanon cannot do so while simultaneously supporting the Syrian regime.”

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri noted on Wednesday that the Arab Spring allows the Lebanese to “update” their democratic experience and eliminate the remnants of the sectarian wars.

He said: “Democracy protects us all and we must resort to dialogue to face intolerance.”

The Beirut accusatory body acquitted on Wednesday the owners of the Fassouh building that collapsed on January 15.

The body had approved Beirut Examining Magistrate Ghassan Owaidat’s decision to acquit Claude and Michel Saadeh of the charges against them.

Lebanon will host its first Theater Festival for Children and Youth where Scenez Drama and Arts Academy Presents " Little me Little You " on March 31.

The event will be held under the patronage of the Culture and Tourism Ministries.

A man used an eye-catching way to attract people on Wednesday after he began to strip in Beirut’s Ain el-Mraisseh seafront in broad daylight.

Witnesses told Naharnet that the bare-chested man brought his shorts down on several occasions and showed his buttocks by forming a G-string with his underwear.

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh on Tuesday voiced concerns over a possible “dangerous thing being plotted against Lebanon under the slogans of humanitarian corridors and support for the (Syrian) opposition.”

“Security-wise, some places in Lebanon are calm and other places are tense. The atmosphere is being prepared day after day and it is heading towards negativity, not positivity. Who sensed the presence of (the extremist group) Fatah al-Islam before the eruption of its conflict with the army?” Franjieh said in an interview on OTV.

MP Akram Shehayyeb, a member of Druze leader Walid Jumblat’s National Struggle Front, on Tuesday called for unveiling the fate of Syrian dissident Shebli al-Aysami who was last seen in May in the Mount Lebanon town of Aley.

Aysami, 86, is a co-founder of Syria's ruling Baath party who fled his native country in 1966 over political differences.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun slammed on Tuesday the National Struggle Front’s boycott of Monday’s parliamentary session, accusing its leader MP Walid Jumblat of only seeking to ensure his own interests.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “It seems that the MP was never part of the parliamentary majority.”

Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali on Monday called on the Lebanese state to be “very strict” in controlling its border with his country and to prevent “the infiltration of gunmen” from Syria into Lebanon.

“There is a safe haven for extremist groups, which are being given several labels, and we urge the Lebanese state to pay attention to this safe haven,” Ali said, referring to Lebanese border towns in the North and the Bekaa provinces.