The Iranian embassy in Beirut urged on Saturday the Lebanese to further unite to avert any possible threats and safeguard the country.

“The current stage requires the Lebanese to unite and to join ranks to avert any possible threats,” the embassy said in a statement to denounce Friday's suicide bombing that targeted an Internal Security Forces check point in Dahr al-Baydar.

Sunni militants who fought together to capture swathes of Iraqi territory have turned their weapons on each other during clashes in Kirkuk province that cost 17 lives, sources said Saturday.

Political figures were informed that several explosive-rigged vehicles and suicide bombers arrived in Beirut to carry out terrorist acts and spread chaos in the capital.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Saturday, Speaker Nabih Berri and several other politicians obtained the information from security agencies.

Julie Abou Araj, an Israeli reporter, denied obtaining information from the Israeli Mossad on an assassination bid targeting General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, questioning the timing of the report hours ahead of Dahr al-Baydar blast.

“I was surprised to read an article attributed to me concerning an alleged document over an assassination bid targeting Ibrahim,” Abou Araj, who is of Lebanese origins and holds the Israeli citizenship since 2000, told An Nahar newspaper in a letter published on Saturday.

The number of Syrians in urgent need of humanitarian aid has jumped to 10.8 million -- nearly half of Syria's population of 22 million -- United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said Friday.

In his monthly report to the U.N. Security Council, Ban said that a total of 4.7 million Syrians are now in areas that are "difficult or impossible" for humanitarian workers to reach, including 241,000 in besieged areas.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Syria, in a rallying cry for international action to end the country's devastating civil war.

The South Korean diplomat outlined a six-point agenda demanding an immediate end to the violence, unfettered humanitarian access and a principled -- and united -- international response.

Lebanese officials strongly condemned a bombing that targeted on Friday an Internal Security Forces checkpoint in eastern Lebanon amid rising fears of renewed violence in the country sparked by a stunning offensive by Sunni insurgents in nearby Iraq.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri called on “all Lebanese sects and parties to be vigilant and cautious and unite against the plot targeting Lebanon and the region, which only aims at inciting sedition.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama will discuss the situation in Ukraine, Iraq and Syria "in the coming days," a top aide said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, Putin's top foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, did not provide further details about the upcoming phone call.

An armed group affiliated with the Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades is plotting to target a high-ranking security figure reportedly General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, media reports said on Friday.

Julie Abou Araj, an Israeli reporter, obtained the information from Israeli Mossad document, An Nahar newspaper reported.

A massive truck bomb claimed by rebels killed at least 35 people Friday in a government-controlled village in the central Syrian province of Hama, state news agency SANA reported.

More than 50 people were wounded in the blast in Al-Horra, SANA said, blaming the attack on rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad.