Prime Minister Tammam Salam saluted on Thursday members of the army and security forces who “have fallen in defense of Lebanon,” vowing that the case of captive servicemen “will not be forgotten.”

He said in a statement on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr: “I salute our captives, who are being held by terrorist groups and urge them to remain strong.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam reiterated that Lebanese lawmakers should elect a neutral president to avoid a power grab by either the March 8 or 14 alliances.

Salam told BBC television in Arabic on Wednesday that there are several candidates who have popular representation, parliamentary blocs and parties.

Lebanese politicians had on Wednesday mixed reactions to a historic accord struck a day earlier by Iran, the United States, and five other world powers to check Tehran's nuclear efforts short of building a bomb.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said the deal could have a positive impact on Lebanon's presidential elections. But stressed that granting Christians their rights cannot be influenced by any change in the world.

Several parties have launched initiatives to resolve the dispute among cabinet members over the government's decision-making mechanism, sources said.

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat, a centrist, has tasked Health Minister Wael Abou Faour to hold talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Hizbullah officials.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Friday that the LF would support the creation of a popular brigade to defend border towns in the Bekaa against any jihadist attack, while stressing that such a paramilitary force should only operate under the supervision of the Lebanese army.

In a speech in Maarab during an LF ceremony, Geagea called for “preventing the movement of arms and gunmen convoys across the border and halting some parties' continued involvement in the Syrian conflict.”

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea on Tuesday rejected attempts by Speaker Nabih Berri to hold an extraordinary parliamentary session and appeased fears on the situation of Christians in Lebanon.

“LF MPs are ready to attend any parliamentary session whose agenda is topped by the electoral draft-law and the law on granting the citizenship to Lebanese expatriates,” said Geagea.

A Lebanese polling and research firm has been tasked with carrying out a survey proposed by the Free Patriotic Movement to help ease the presidential deadlock, al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported on Monday.

Sources told the daily that Statistics Lebanon, which was established in 1994, will ask a sample of 4,600 Christians who their candidate for the presidency is.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday visited the newly-elected chief of the Kataeb Party MP Sami Gemayel at the latter's headquarters in Saifi.

“Bringing together the political forces is necessary in any attempt to make a change and this is the aim of the current contacts,” Geagea announced after the talks.

Change and Reform bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan held talks Monday with the main Christian parties in a bid to clinch their support for Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun's proposal on carrying out a survey to determine which Christian party or parties are influential in the country.

Following a meeting with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in Maarab, Kanaan said the LF chief reiterated to him “his support for organizing the survey.”

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea downplayed the criticism of a survey that his party and the Free Patriotic Movement plan to carry out as part of efforts to resolve the presidential deadlock.

“I don't understand why the issue has stirred such reactions although all parties carry out surveys on the elections and other issues,” Geagea said in remarks published on Monday.