The United States designated two Lebanese foreign exchange firms as significant money launderers on Tuesday, saying they “moved money for drug traffickers and benefited Hizbullah.”

The U.S. Treasury named Kassem Rmeiti & Co. For Exchange and Halawi Exchange Co. for sanctions which freeze any assets they have on U.S. soil and ban Americans and U.S. businesses from any transactions with them.

The trial in absentia of four Hizbullah members for the 2005 bombing that killed former premier Rafik Hariri will likely start in late 2013, a court spokesman said on Tuesday.

"The prosecution has indicated the fourth quarter of 2013 as to when they would be ready for trial," Marten Youssef, spokesman for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, told Agence France Presse.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday rejected calls voiced by Lebanese Sunni clerics for “jihad” in the Syrian region of Qusayr, while urging Hizbullah to “withdraw its fighters” from the war-torn country.

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc said the line-up of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's cabinet "must be based on the rotation of portfolios" among the various political parties.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea condemned on Tuesday Hizbullah's fighting in Syria alongside the Syrian regime, accusing the party of violating the Baabda Declaration that calls for Lebanon to distance itself from regional crises.

He said during a press conference: “The government must hold a session to put an immediate stop to Hizbullah's fighting in Syria.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed on Tuesday that official memos exchanged between the ministry and international embassies follow strict diplomatic customs and traditions that "he is keen on abiding by", noting that not all letters must be disclosed.

"We receive tens of official memos everyday and the ministry is not obliged to announce anything about them to media outlets,” Mansour said in a meeting with media professionals.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel contacted on Tuesday caretaker Syrian National Coalition leader George Sabra to address the abduction of Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo Youhanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Iskanderun Boulos al-Yaziji in Syria on Monday.

He urged “immediate Arab and international action to save their lives for the sake of the Syrian revolution's reputation.”

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned on Tuesday Hizbullah's fighting in Syria alongside the Syrian regime, warning that it will drag Lebanon towards the strife that President Bashar Assad had “vowed to spread in the region.”

He said in a statement: “Hizbullah's actions in Syria are a crime against Lebanon and the Lebanese and Syria and its people.”

Fierce clashes pitted Syrian rebels against troops and fighters loyal to Hizbullah in several villages near Qusayr on the border with Lebanon on Tuesday, a watchdog said.

Meanwhile, a military source told AFP the army expects to seize the town of Qusayr, a rebel stronghold, "within days."

President Michel Suleiman condemned on Tuesday the kidnapping of Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo Youhanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Iskanderun Boulos al-Yaziji in Syria on Monday, demanding their immediate release.

He said: “These actions will not achieve democracy or the goals of the perpetrators.”

Salafist cleric Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi said Tuesday that he informed caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel his readiness to withdraw his call for jihad if Hizbullah ended its involvement in Syria's civil war.

In remarks to LBCI, al-Rafehi said: “Charbel telephoned me and I formed him our readiness to pull the invitation to Jihad in Syria if Hizbullah stopped sending fighters to Syria.”