Twenty-one rebels and nine members of Syria's regime forces were killed north of Aleppo on Sunday in fierce fighting for control of a key insurgent supply route, a monitor said.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday called for “direct negotiations” with the kidnappers of the Lebanese servicemen and urged “an end to the siege” of the Bekaa border town of Arsal, while stressing that ending the “presidential void” is the main topic in the upcoming dialogue with Hizbullah.

The bloc “supports the government's decision to engage in direct negotiations in the way the government and its premier believe to be appropriate and beneficial in the attempt to secure the release of the captive servicemen,” Mustaqbal said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

The army command denied on Monday that terrorists have infiltrated Lebanese territories in the eastern Bekaa Valley and kidnapped more soldiers.

The denial was made to the state-run National News Agency.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri expressed hope on Thursday that dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal Movement would include all the Lebanese factions, setting the presidential elections and the country's security and stability as a priority.

“The kingdom views dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal as a positive step that should include all the Lebanese,” Asiri said in comments published in the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq confirmed Wednesday that a woman detained in Lebanon is a divorcee of Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as he accused Hizbullah of staging a “showoff” stunt in the wake of the release of its captive fighter Imad Ayyad.

“The detained woman is a lady who has been married three times, one of them to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and they have a daughter from their marriage, the thing that has been confirmed through DNA tests,” Mashnouq said during an interview on MTV.

The March 14 forces on Wednesday called for "activating" the UK-built military watchtowers on Lebanon's eastern border with Syria, as they voiced support for the upcoming dialogue between al-Mustaqbal movement and Hizbullah.

“The battle against terrorism is part of an international battle,” the March 14 General Secretariat said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting, noting that the government must “benefit from the global campaign by obtaining information and assets” that can help it in its anti-terror fight.

Nader Hariri, who is the adviser of al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri, has held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri's aide Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil to set the stage for the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The daily said that the meeting between Nader Hariri and Khalil took place on Monday.

Hizbullah announced on Sunday that "their position is fixed" regarding the issue of the presidential elections, because one can not take "risks" in this case, but rather electing a person that "has a real representation" between Christians.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri noted Wednesday that Riyadh's call for blacklisting Hizbullah as a “terrorist” organization must not have any impact on the domestic Lebanese affairs, voicing support for any dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement.

“We back any dialogue that gathers the Lebanese,” Asiri said in an interview with NBN television, revealing that during talks in Ain al-Tineh he sensed insistence by Speaker Nabih Berri to secure the success of dialogue between the two parties.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi announced Tuesday his support for any dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement, welcoming any step that might pull the country out of its political crisis.

“Any dialogue is a necessary dialogue and we must not forget that the interruption of dialogue between (the) March 14 and March 8 (coalitions) has led us to what we're currently suffering,” al-Rahi said in response to a question about his opinion on the prospects of dialogue between Hizbullah and Mustaqbal.