Energy Minister Jebran Bassil described parliament’s adoption of a draft law on the delineation of Lebanon’s maritime border as an “achievement,” saying however, it was now time for the cabinet to issue decrees paving way for the exploration of oil and natural gas in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Bassil told As Safir daily published Friday that Premier Najib Miqati’s government should commit to its policy statement and issue the decrees that would give licenses for international companies to explore oil.

Estonia has paid a 5 million dollar ransom to win the release of the seven Estonian tourists kidnapped in the Bekaa valley in March, the French publication Intelligence Online has reported.

Citing a source close to Lebanese intelligence, the publication said that the Estonians had been kidnapped by mistake, and that the real goal of the hostage-takers was to nab citizens of a Western country with large interests in the Middle East.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said that Lebanon’s stance at the U.N. Security Council comes out of his conviction that the country shouldn’t adopt any resolution that condemns Syria, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.

“I believe that we shouldn’t adopt any resolution that condemns Syria, to ensure the security and stability of the two countries,” he stressed.

The general-secretariat of the March 14 forces is expected to hold several events on Sunday on the anniversary of the clampdown by the Emile Lahoud regime on opposition activists in 2001, An Nahar daily reported Friday.

The newspaper said March 14 has decided to hold the “Day of Repression” events on August 7, the anniversary of the “attack of the security regime” of Lahoud on people demanding more freedom.

The Obama administration sent its ambassador back to Damascus on Thursday as it incrementally turned up the heat on Syrian President Bashar Assad with tougher rhetoric and new sanctions.

The White House said Assad's deadly crackdown on protesters had put Syria and the Middle East on a "very dangerous path," as Washington extended a raft of recent sanctions to include a businessman close to Assad and his family.

Syrian dissidents and activists said Thursday President Bashar al-Assad's decision to allow opposition political parties was a political ploy, and that constitutional change is the only way to democracy.

"The regime is not serious about transforming the country from a dominant party into democracy and pluralism. Instead, it is trying to carry out some cosmetic work to improve its image," Anwar al-Bunni, head of the Syrian Center for Studies and Legal Research, told Agence France Presse.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stated on Thursday that Lebanon chose to “disassociate” itself from the United Nations Security Council statement on Syria out of its “firm position that it will not intervene in the internal affairs of other countries.”

He said before reporters: “Lebanon does not meddle in the affairs of other nations, especially Arab ones, and it expects others not to meddle in its issues.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Thursday Lebanon’s decision to disassociate itself from the United Nations Security Council statement condemning the violence against protests in Syria.

He told Voice of Lebanon radio: “Something must be wrong in Lebanon when 14 out of 15 countries voted in favor of the statement, especially when these countries included Russia, Brazil China, and others of different ideologies.”

France on Thursday slammed as "provocation" a decree by Syrian President Bashar Assad allowing opposition parties, and said instead he should stop his deadly crackdown on democracy protests.

"In a manner that lacks credibility... the Syrian regime recently announced the authorization of multi-party politics. This is almost a provocation," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told French radio.

Turkish authorities have seized an Iranian arms shipment heading to Syria and was meant for Hizbullah, a German newspaper reported Thursday.

The Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Turkish security forces stopped a convoy of trucks carrying a large quantity of weapons and ammunition in the south-central city of Kilis, which is adjacent to the Syrian border.