Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat slammed the authorities on Friday for using force against the relatives of servicemen taken hostage by jihadists in August, urging officials for some “modesty.”

Jumblat described the clampdown on the protesters at Beirut's Saifi area as “shameful.”

Prominent political figures are expected to head in the upcoming hours to Saudi Arabia to discuss with al-Msutaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri the latest local and regional developments.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Saturday, the talks come in light of the presidential standstill and the efforts exerted to open communication channels between al-Mustaqbal and Hizbullah,

Speaker Nabih Berri has denied preconditions were set for a dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement as he is exerting strong efforts to open communication channels between the rival parties.

Berri told his visitors on Thursday that he was preparing the agenda for the talks along with a similar measure taken by al-Mustaqbal.

MP Marwan Hamadeh told the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Thursday that during the months that preceded ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination in Feb. 2005, Syria sought to grant former President Emile Lahoud “all powers” at a time when Hariri worked on forming an anti-Damascus opposition in hopes of winning the general elections.

“Lebanon was a parliamentary system, which was being shifted by Syria into a presidential system, whereby Lahoud - a Syrian candidate and a Syrian representative - was grabbing all powers,” Hamadeh told the STL Trial Chamber.

MP Marwan Hamadeh told the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Wednesday how relations between slain ex-PM Rafik Hariri and Syrian President Bashar Assad broke down over the extension of President Emile Lahoud's term in 2004.

Hamadeh, on his third day of testimony, said he met with Hariri at the residence of Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat in Beirut's Clemenceau area in August 2004 upon the former premier's return to the Lebanese capital from a meeting with Assad.

MP Marwan Hamadeh resumed on Tuesday his testimony before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, focusing on Syria's hegemony over Lebanon under the premiership of slain PM Rafik Hariri and examining his ties with former President Emile Lahoud.

The ties between Hariri and MP Walid Jumblat came into prominence during the debate over the extension of Lahoud's term in 2004, prompting the STL Prosecution to reveal that it is studying the possibility of summoning the lawmaker to make his testimony before the tribunal.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat hailed on Monday the efforts of Health Minister Wael Abou Faour regarding food safety in Lebanon, stressing his party's keenness on the interests of the people.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “The battle waged by the PSP will not halt, but it will continue to tackle different aspects of food safety.”

Speaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat have said they are exerting efforts to launch dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement.

Local dailies published on Monday quoted Berri as saying that he and Jumblat were seeking to open channels of dialogue between the rival parties.

Health Minister Wael Abu Faour on Friday referred the food safety scandal to the public prosecutor and asked the interior minister to shut down three violating firms in Beirut and its southern suburbs.

The minister ordered “taking all measures necessary to forbid the sale of meat – kafta, minced meat, soujouk and basterma – at the al-Natour Butchery in Ras Beirut, and to seize the manufacturing, mincing and mixing machines,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Ministers engaged in a verbal spat over media outlets on Wednesday over the food safety scandal and the Health Minister Wael Abou Faour's technique in dealing with the matter.

Abou Faour slammed ministers and officials who criticized his ministry's food safety battle, revealing new names to the list of violating institutions as Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon said that the Health Ministry should be held accountable like the rest of the food safety violators.