Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has stressed that Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled regime “will not survive and it is definitely in its final days,” noting that “Hizbullah will not become more open to dialogue if the regime in Syria falls.”

In an interview on Al-Arabiya satellite TV network, Geagea said: “Hizbullah will not become more open to dialogue if the regime in Syria falls. Our hand is extended to Hizbullah all the time and I believe that there will be a major impact for the regime's fall but it will take time to manifest itself on the ground.”

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri slammed on Tuesday the new parliamentary electoral law, stressing that it will not be approved at parliament.

He said in a statement: “The least that can be said of the law is that it is directed against more than half of the Lebanese people and we reject it.”

Lebanon has informed Iran that it will not take part in an upcoming meeting on the Syrian conflict that Tehran is hosting, a Lebanese diplomatic official said on Tuesday.

"The Lebanese foreign ministry has informed the Iranian authorities that Lebanon will not attend Thursday's meeting in Tehran, because it has never participated in any international meetings on Syria, in line with its policy of self-disassociation," the official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday described Hizbullah’s latest stances on the issue of arms as a “negative approach” that would prevent any “useful dialogue” over the issue of the national defense strategy.

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc lauded “President Michel Suleiman’s responsible and valued remarks on Army Day in which he clearly and categorically stated that it is unacceptable to have a partnership between the state’s arms and the illegal arms in the issues of security and sovereignty.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun hoped on Tuesday that the government would exert efforts to complete the state budget.

He hoped that Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi would cater to some of the “confusion” at his ministry in order to complete accounts, which would pave the way for the completion of the budget.

Cabinet approved on Tuesday a parliamentary electoral law based on proportional representation.

The draft law was subject to a vote at cabinet, enjoying the support of all ministers except those of the National Struggle Front, announced acting Information Minister Wael Abou Faour after the session, which was held at the Baabda Palace and headed by President Michel Suleiman.

Twelve people were wounded in a huge fire that broke out on Tuesday at the Justice Ministry building, trapping several employees in their offices, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.

The blaze erupted in the fourth and fifth floors of the building located in Beirut’s Mathaf area and firefighting teams have succeeded in extinguishing most of it, said the National News Agency.

Several Syrian shells hit the northern Wadi Khaled region at dawn Tuesday, damaging several houses and causing panic among residents, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said the shells struck houses in the Bqaiaa-Mqaibleh area near the legal Bqaiaa-Jisr al-Qmar crossing, damaging the houses and forcing residents to flee to safer areas.

Eleven Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria appeared in good health on Tuesday after an LBC news team was able to interview them, but the men lashed out at the government for not doing enough to set them free.

“I won’t urge our state because I don’t consider myself that I have a state and I am no longer proud of being Lebanese,” said one of the pilgrims Abbas Shoaib.

A ministerial committee set up to resolve the problem of cannabis farmers in the eastern Bekaa valley will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said.

Charbel told An Nahar daily that a solution to the cannabis fields mainly in Bekaa’s north is now in the hands of the committee that will discuss a development plan for the Baalbek-Hermel area during its meeting under Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail.