A bomb ripped through a car moments after it was parked by its owner in Tripoli's al-Qobbeh area on Sunday, state-run National News Agency reported.

“The blast targeted the Jeep of Sheikh Saadeddine Ghiyyeh, leaving him lightly wounded,” NNA said.

Caretaker Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil on Sunday warned that the rebel assault on the Syrian Christian town of Maalula was a “serious signal that the plot to displace Christians from the Levant has started.”

“The West's stance can be best summed up by what former French president Nicolas Sarkozy had told (Maronite) Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in 2011, when he said that Christians have no place in the Levant, especially in Lebanon and Syria, and by what we heard from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry two days ago when he said that there is no need to protect minorities,” Bassil said at a press conference he held at his Batroun residence.

A Syrian national was arrested on Saturday on charges of attempting to prepare explosives, reported the National News Agency on Sunday.

It said that the General Security arrested Ahmed Osama al-Toumani near the vegetable market in the Nahr Ibrahim region.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stressed on Sunday that the army guarantees Lebanon's security and sovereignty, while condemning the spread of arms outside the state's authority.

He said during his Sunday sermon: “The illegitimate weapons pose a threat to the army and other security agencies in Lebanon.”

Spokesman of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Andrea Tenenti noted that the implementation of U.N. Security Council 1701 will be halted should the situation in the region escalate, reported al-Mustaqbal daily on Sunday.

He added to the daily that UNIFIL will not leave the South should the situation escalate.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel denied that some embassies in Lebanon had received security threats, reported the Kuwaiti Al-Seyassah on Sunday.

He told the daily: “We do not fear for the safety of diplomatic missions because security measures have been taken to protect them.”

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Saturday on the necessity to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Suleiman's statement came during a meeting with his French counterpart Francois Hollande in France's southern city of Nice.

The United States' Secretary of State assured on Saturday that his country is not paving the way to evacuate all its employees from Beirut, ahead of the possible U.S.-led military strike against Syria.

"We did not recall our staff from Beirut,” John Kerry stated at a joint press conference with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius in Paris.

For the second day in a row, a number of activists rallied in front of the American Embassy in al-Metn's Awkar neighborhood to protest the expected U.S.-lead military operation in Syria.

MTV remarked that a number of activists, intellectuals, bloggers and journalists took part in the protest.

President Michel Suleiman met on Saturday with Lebanon's delegation to the Francophone Games in southern France, saying Lebanese youth resisted Israel and defeated terrorism through the army.

“Lebanese youth have the will and have been capable of making wider achievements than any other country,” Suleiman told the delegation that is participating in the games in the coastal city of Nice.