Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Saturday warned of vacuum in the presidency, considering that it would drag Lebanon into “a difficult and critical phase.”

He also called on local factions to communicate with Hizbullah regarding the party's involvement in the ongoing Syrian war.

Mortar shells slammed into several areas of the Syrian capital on Saturday, with one hitting near the Russian embassy without causing injuries, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said regime troops battled rebels in Eastern Ghouta near the capital, while opposition forces tightened their siege of a military base in Idlib province of northwest Syria.

YouTube will remain blocked in Turkey, despite the end to a similar controversial ban on Twitter, after a court backtracked on an earlier ruling to grant access to the video-sharing site.

The court in the capital Ankara on Friday lifted a March 27 government decision blocking access to YouTube, saying the blanket ban violated human rights, and instead restricting 15 videos.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Saturday 12 Lebanese, including Arab Democratic Party politburo chief Rifaat Eid, with belonging to an armed group, possession of arms and inciting sedition.

State-run National News Agency reported that the 12 men are charged with belonging to an armed terrorist group, seeking to carry out terrorist acts and involvement in gunbattles between the rival neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh in the northern city of Tripoli.

A woman, who was abducted in the northern city of Tripoli, was released on Saturday in unknown circumstances.

State-run National News Agency reported that 43-year-old Sawsan Abdul Haq, who hails from the town of Hayzouq in the northern region of Akkar and been kidnapped on Friday while en route to Tripoli, was transferred to the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau in the northern city.

Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has told rival jihadists in Syria to accept independent Islamic arbitration to end three months of infighting, saying in an audio message Friday the violence is "sedition".

Powerful rebel groups in Syria, including the Islamic Front and al-Qaida's affiliate Al-Nusra Front, have been locked in fierce fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) since January.

Turkey on Friday fired artillery into Syria to retaliate after cross-border shelling hit its territory without causing injuries or damage, the army said.

"Six shells hit in Yayladadi in Hatay province and caused no damage," said the Turkish armed forces in a statement.

Regime tanks and warplanes pounded besieged Mleiha east of Damascus on Friday, pressing a campaign to take control of the opposition-held town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syrian warplanes also raided a rebel-held district in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 11 people, and 22 were wounded when mortar rounds slammed into central Damascus, the monitor said.

The so-called Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade slammed on Friday the security plan implemented by “the non-Lebanese army” in the northern city of Tripoli, considering that the military raids are violating the sanctity of Muslim homes.

“The army's mice are not being considerate of the sanctity of the Muslim homes and the presence of women in them,” the brigade said via Twitter.

A Kuwaiti minister, accused by a senior U.S. official of promoting jihad in Syria, has resigned just days after receiving the backing of fellow cabinet members, a report said Friday.

Justice and Islamic Affairs Minister Nayef al-Ajmi, who strongly denies the U.S. accusations, said he had asked to be relieved of his duties for health reasons, Al-Rai newspaper reported.