The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday Hizbullah and the AMAL movement’s shutdown of the Zahrani power plant, accusing them of committing militia practices aimed at harming the Lebanese state.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “It was an attempt to increase their control over the legitimate state institutions and create more closed security and economic zones outside the state’s control similar to the zones that Hizbullah has created.”

Syria's government on Wednesday welcomed a pledge by Turkey not to let its territory be used as a springboard for any attacks against its neighbors.

"We welcome any Turkish statement aiming to preserve good neighborly relations with Syria," foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdisi told a news conference broadcast live on state television.

The Maronite Bishops Council voiced its fears on Wednesday over the various security incidents that have taken place in Lebanon, stressing that the country’s sovereignty should not be undermined.

It expressed in a statement after its monthly meeting its concern of the possibility of the unrest in Syria spreading to Lebanon.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman stressed on Wednesday the need for Lebanon to continue its cooperation with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

He said after holding talks with Prime Minsiter Najib Miqati that he does not believe that Lebanon wants to wage a confrontation with the Arab and international communities.

An Iranian daily said Wednesday that Tehran may transfer to Syria and Hizbullah intelligence from a U.S. drone that was allegedly downed by Iranian armed forces.

The report came in the conservative Mellat newspaper as state radio said that the unmanned spy plane was deep inside Iran's airspace, flying over an eastern town famous for Persian carpets and saffron when it was downed.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi is due in Baghdad on Thursday to discuss the regional bloc's sanctions against Syria, which Iraq refuses to enforce, a foreign ministry official told Agence France Presse.

"He will hold talks with (foreign minister) Hoshyar Zebari, particularly on Syria," the official said.

The leader of the opposition Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, has warned that Hizbullah and Iran are risking their future relations with Syria by supporting President Bashar Assad.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Ghalioun said: "The Syrian people stood completely by Hizbullah once. But today, they are surprised that Hizbullah did not return the favor and support the Syrian people’s struggle for freedom."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed the need for a post-Assad Syria to protect the rights of minorities, ethnic groups and women as she met in Switzerland on Tuesday with Syrian opposition leaders.

Clinton made the points as she met for the first time with members of the Syrian National Council (SNC), which formed in October amid efforts to oust President Bashar al-Assad who is leading a deadly crackdown on protests.

The United States and France said Tuesday that they were sending their ambassadors back to Syria to champion protesters facing a deadly crackdown, after pulling the envoys out due to security fears.

The two countries said U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford and French Ambassador Eric Chevallier would aim to support the people of Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad's nine-month crackdown is said to have killed more than 4,000 people.

Syria foiled an operation by "terrorists" to infiltrate the country from neighboring Turkey, the official news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.

"Border guards last (Monday) night thwarted an attempted infiltration by armed terrorist groups from Turkey" in the Ain Bayda sector of Idlib province of northwest Syria, it said.