Development and Liberation bloc MPs met on Friday with President Michel Suleiman and Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati to brief them on Speaker Nabih Berri's “roadmap” on the new government and the national dialogue.

Berri tasked his lawmakers to meet with top officials and parliamentary blocs to explain to them his initiative, which he said is aimed at bringing the country's political deadlock to an end.

France has reassured President Michel Suleiman that a possible Western attack against the Syrian regime would neither target Lebanon nor Hizbullah, As Safir daily reported on Friday.

The daily's correspondent in Paris said French President Francois Hollande told Suleiman on the sidelines of the Francophone Games in the southern city of Nice that Paris was exerting all efforts to steer Lebanon clear of the developments linked to Syria and its chemical weapons.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi highlighted on Thursday the importance of the Baabda Declaration, saying it is a written agreement, “not ink on paper,” that was approved by all political powers.

He said ahead of traveling to Romania: “No one can shy away from their responsibilities towards the Declaration.”

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Thursday he resorted to the judiciary to take legal action against the editor of Ad-Diyar newspaper after his criticism went beyond limits.

“I overcame the criticism in the media but when things touched on constitutional institutions I resorted to the judiciary,” Miqati said during a meeting with Tripoli residents who converged on his house in a show of support.

Head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad accused on Thursday the Mustaqbal Movement and some members of the March 14 alliance of creating incitement against Hizbullah over the security measures it has taken in and around its stronghold of Dahieh in Beirut's southern suburbs.

He said in a statement: “Their claims over the alleged autonomous security in Dahieh are part of an ongoing campaign against the resistance, its people, and supporters.”

Bulgaria aims to open a trial by April for a bomb attack that killed five Israeli tourists at an airport last year, the chief prosecutor said Thursday.

"Our ambition is to go to court... by the end of the first three months of next year at the maximum," Sotir Tsatsarov told journalists.

An arrest warrant was issued on Thursday against a suspect over his firing of rockets in the Baabda region on August 1, reported the National News Agency.

Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawwan issued an arrest warrant against Jamal Ismail after he was interrogated in the Ballouneh rockets case.

An agreement reached among the country's rival leaders last year to steer Lebanon clear of the region's crises did not deal with the resistance's arms but should have paved way for the discussion of the national defense strategy, said a Baabda Palace statement on Thursday.

The rival leaders from the March 8 and March 14 alliances affirmed on June 11, 2012 commitment to the Taef Accord and agreed to keep Lebanon away from the policy of regional and international conflicts to spare it the negative repercussions of the regional crises.

President Michel Suleiman, who is traveling to New York this month, is expected to meet with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to discuss the Syrian crisis, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Thursday.

The daily said that the issue was discussed by Suleiman and Secretary of State John Kerry during a telephone conversation they held on Wednesday.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Thursday that a deal for Beirut Port trucks to operate at night is aimed at easing traffic congestion and limiting accidents.

In remarks to An Nahar newspaper, Charbel said around 1,600 trucks are transporting goods in and out of Beirut port given the security situation in Syria.