Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun described the atmosphere at Tuesday’s Christian meeting as “positive and reassuring”.

He said after the movement’s weekly meeting: ““The ice was not broken, but a discussion that may turn into a dialogue was launched, and this is comforting to the Lebanese.”

President Michel Suleiman held talks with Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet in the Baabda palace on Tuesday.

Paet expressed his gratitude to the Lebanese security forces’ efforts in searching for the seven kidnapped Estonian cyclists.

Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat criticized House Speaker Nabih Berri’s handling of the case of Syria’s accusation against MP Jamal Jarrah of funding a terrorist cell seeking to destabilize the Arab state.

He told al-Mustaqbal newspaper in remarks published on Tuesday: “An accusation was directed against a member of parliament and his refusal to respond to the allegations means that he is allowing Jarrah’s blood to be spilled.”

Three army officers and three children were killed by "armed criminal gangs" around the central city of Homs, Syrian authorities announced on Tuesday.

"Armed criminal gangs who block roads and spread fear in the area, came upon General Abdo Khodr Al-Tellawi, his two children and his nephew, and killed them in cold blood," the official news agency SANA reported. The victims' bodies were "mutilated", SANA added.

Syria’s allies in Lebanon have expressed their firm support for Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, as the neighboring country faces unprecedented protests demanding the end of nearly 50 years of emergency rule.

"Today, we stand yet again by our sister Syria ... and by Syria's leaders who have refused to give into pressure or ... to conspire against the resistance," Hizbullah MP Nawaf Moussawi said on Monday during a press conference entitled "In solidarity with Syria against the American-Zionist-Western plot to undermine its national, pan-Arab and resistance role."

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem pledged on Monday that Syria will go ahead with reforms as promised, but warned against "sabotage" committed by protesters, the state-run SANA news agency reported.

"The reforms will continue and peaceful protests are authorized, but the recourse to violence and sabotage is unacceptable," it quoted Muallem as saying at a meeting with a group of ambassadors posted to Syria.

President Michel Suleiman telephoned his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad on Monday to stress to him that Lebanon supports stability and security in Syria, a Baabda palace statement said.

Suleiman “discussed with him (Assad) the latest developments, bilateral ties and the reforms that President Assad had announced,” the statement said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat condemned on Monday some Lebanese sides’ hope of instability breaking out in Syria, saying that its stability and security are linked to Lebanon’s.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Geographic, historic, and political experiences and the Taif Accord have proven this fact and therefore it’s crazy for Lebanese political or media circles to hope for instability in Syria.”

At least seven people were killed overnight by Syrian security forces in the flashpoint town of Homs, rights activists told Agence France Presse on Monday.

The deaths occurred when security forces opened fire with live rounds late Sunday to disperse demonstrators in the Bab Sba'a are of the town, 160 kilometers to the north of Damascus, witnesses said.

The deputy head of Hizbullah’s executive council Sheikh Nabil Qaouq rejected on Monday any meddling in Syria’s internal affairs.

He said: “The Lebanese judiciary should immediately uncover the extent of the Mustaqbal movement’s involvement in conspiring against Syria.”