Jordan's King Abdullah II expressed his condolences on Saturday to the family of “Dean of Journalists” Ghassan Tueni.

"We express our sincerest sympathies for this profound affliction,” the king said in a letter sent to the Tueni family.

Russia will not approve the use of force against the Syrian regime at the United Nations, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday at a briefing in Moscow.

"We will not sanction the use of force at the United Nations Security Council," Lavrov said in televised remarks as he gave a briefing on Russia's proposal for an international conference on Syria.

Lebanon drew 1-1 with Uzbekistan on Friday in the second match of the final Asian qualifying round for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Jasur Hasanov gave Uzbekistan a 1-0 lead just 11 minutes into the match both sides needed to win to get their campaigns for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil back on track.

One person was killed and two others were wounded on Friday as exchange of gunfire renewed between the rival Tripoli neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, in the latest such violation of a fragile ceasefire.

“Cautious calm engulfed the area after army units fired heavily for around 10 minutes at the sources of gunfire, silencing the sniper fire,” state-run National News Agency reported later on Friday.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Thursday held talks with top Lebanese leaders, stressing the need to “exert all efforts to prevent an importation of the Syrian conflict into Lebanon.”

The German diplomat called on the Lebanese political forces to shoulder their responsibilities in this regard.

Expressing horror at the latest massacre in Syria, U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan told the major powers on Thursday that it was time to threaten "consequences" if President Bashar Assad does not halt the strife.

Annan and U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon condemned the reported slaughter of dozens of people in the village of al-Qubeir on Wednesday, telling the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly it was time to increase pressure.

Sniper gunshots were fired on Wednesday at Syria Street, which separates the rival Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, as a hand grenade exploded in the neighboring Baal Al-Darawish area, National News Agency reported.

No gunmen were visible in Bab al-Tabbaneh, amidst complete shutdown of shops and stores, reported NNA.

Speaker Nabih Berri stated on Wednesday that the Baabda Palace meeting on Tuesday tackled the need to reactivate the government’s functioning.

His visitors quoted him as saying: “The gatherers agreed to tackling the government spending dispute and the need to complete the 2012 state budget.”

Clashes broke out Wednesday between Syrian troops and residents of the border town of Arsal in eastern Lebanon after a Lebanese man was killed and two wounded at dawn along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Security sources said that rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons were fired during the clashes at Kherbet Daoud, an area on the outskirts of Arsal.

The wives and daughters of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in northern Syria identified two of the kidnappers on Tuesday after seeing them in a report about the Free Syrian Army on television.

LBCI reported that several women, part of a group of pilgrims kidnapped in Syria and released without their male relatives, contacted it after seeing their kidnappers’ faces on a Monday broadcast.