Israeli President Shimon Peres revealed on Thursday that former Syrian President Hafez Assad agreed to personally meet him in 1996 to negotiate a peace deal between the two countries, adding that both Syria and Lebanon must choose between Iranian ambitions and a peaceful Middle East, reported Haaretz on Thursday.

Peres said that in 1996, "following the assassination of [former Prime Minister] Yitzhak Rabin, the Americans communicated a message from Assad senior, in which he expressed his desire to renew peace efforts."

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and MP Marwan Hamadeh both supported an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon during the July 2006 war, said a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Thursday.

The Wikileaks cable spoke of a late night meeting between U.N. special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, Jumblat, and Hamadeh during which the former suggested handing over the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah to the Lebanese state.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat is expected to hold talks with the assistant of the Syrian president’s deputy in Damascus on Thursday, As Safir daily reported.

The newspaper said that Jumblat would meet with Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nassif as part of consultations on the situation in Lebanon and the Arab world.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran, Syria and Hizbullah “and other terrorist elements” are making daily efforts “to smuggle weapons into Lebanon and Gaza."

Netanyahu made the remark after inspecting a massive shipment of weapons seized from the "Victoria" ship at the Ashdod port in southern Israel.

Syrian security forces on Wednesday dispersed a demonstration by dozens of relatives of prisoners near the interior ministry, Agence France Presse correspondents said.

At least four protesters were arrested, the correspondents said, after the demonstrators gathered in a public square near the ministry in central Damascus.

An Iranian cargo plane en route to Syria was forced to land in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir airport for an inspection, security sources said Wednesday.

The plane landed following an order from the Turkish foreign ministry citing suspicion of military or nuclear related cargo on board, the sources said.

Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated the need to speed up the cabinet formation process and said “it wasn’t acceptable to waste more time anymore.”

In remarks to An Nahar and As Safir dailies published Wednesday, Berri called for dealing with the daily problems of the Lebanese, including social and economic issues, away from the political bickering.

Dozens of Syrians demonstrated for liberty and political reforms on Tuesday, witnesses and opposition websites said, as the foreign minister said political reforms will be implemented this year.

"God, Syria, liberty" and "Syrians, where are you?" chanted men and women inviting their compatriots to join the "peaceful march" which unfolded in a central souk of Old City Damascus, according to videos posted online.

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has denied Syrian interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs and expressed confidence in the March 8 forces’ ability to form the new Lebanese government.

“We don’t interfere in the formation of the Lebanese cabinet. We have confidence in the majority in Lebanon which has enough awareness and absolute faith in Lebanon’s interests,” Muallem said Tuesday during a joint press conference with his Spanish counterpart Trinidad Jimenez.

A snowstorm that has been lashing Lebanon since Wednesday is expected to subside over the weekend after claiming three victims in the Wadi Khaled region in Akkar.

The National News Agency said Thursday that Abdullah Rayya, Hassan Shmaisi and Walid Rayya, from the Syrian village of Maajir, were carried off by Nahr al-Kabir while riding their tractor on the Syrian side of the border.