Security forces arrested on Saturday a man accused of insulting a statue of Virgin Mary last month.

"Security forces in the Dahieh judicial department (in Beirut's southern suburbs) arrested A.I. for insulting a statue of Virgin Mary and posting a picture of the wrongful conduct on his page on a social media site,” LBCI television said.

Iraqi Transport Minister Hadi al-Ameri on Saturday stressed on the “historical and brotherly” ties between Lebanon and Iraq, assuring that recent events will not change these relations.

"The bubble that happened lately will not change the historical and brotherly relations between Baghdad and Beirut,” al-Ameri said at Rafic Hariri International Airport upon his arrival in Beirut, adding that Iraq will “probe the incident and penalize all delinquents.”

Maronite Patriarch Bashara al-Rahi on Saturday voiced his support to President Michel Suleiman's effort “in preserving unity and stability in the country.”

"We support everything the president is doing to preserve unity and stability in Lebanon and we praise what he achieved in Paris during the international conference on Lebanon,” al-Rahi said after meeting with Suleiman at Baabda Palace.

Protesters took to the streets of Beirut Saturday on International Women's Day to demand better protection for women amid an uproar over husbands murdering their wives.

The march by some 4,000 women, men and children from the National Museum to the Palace of Justice, was led by mothers and other relatives of women they said had been the victims of domestic violence.

An Internal Security Forces Unit exchanged fir on Tuesday with suspects during a raid in the Taamir Ain el-Hilweh area in the southern city of Sidon.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the raided the area in search for wanted suspects.

Rockets hit on Saturday a town in the Bekaa a day after the Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed an attack on nearby areas.

The state-run National News Agency reported that two rockets fired the eastern mountain range landed near Hermel public hospital.

The Bekaa town of Baalbek has witnessed a series of kidnappings for ransom and car robbery over the past year, mainly on the Riyaq-Baallbek and Baalbek-Homs highways, targeting Lebanese nationals and foreigners as well, An Nahar newspaper reported on Saturday

Kidnappings have been recorded on an almost daily basis in the said area and the perpetrators are said to be gangs roving the highways waiting for their next hunt.

Ties between President Michel Suleiman and Hizbullah reached a standstill as efforts exerted by officials to end the ongoing dispute didn't make any breakthrough.

A source close to Hizbullah told al-Liwaa newspaper, published on Saturday, that “the resistance will not accept anything less than an apology in order to reconsider rectifying the ties with Suleiman.”

The Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades stressed that its operations in Lebanon don't target innocent civilians, accusing Hizbullah of using "human shields."

The brigades said via twitter on Satruday that a flaw occurred during the attack on the Iranian cultural center in Beirut's southern suburbs, causing a high number of casualties.

The Internal Security Forces freed on Saturday 10-year-old Michel al-Saqr, the son of a reputed businessman, a day after he was kidnapped, the state-run National News Agency reported.

According to NNA, Saqr was freed in the Bekaa village of Talia without the payment of a ransom.