The Maronite bishops council hailed on Wednesday the army and security forces for their efforts in confronting the various security incidents that have taken place in Lebanon in recent months.

It said: “We call on the people to respect and support the army through all possible means in order to allow it to perform its duties.”

A fire broke out on Wednesday at a gas station in al-Laylaki area in Beirut's southern suburbs as a result of armed clashes between two rival families, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Mehdi Nassif and Firas Zoaiter were wounded in the renewal of clashes between the Zoaiter and Hjoula families.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel expressed readiness to exert all efforts needed to help line-up a cabinet and urged Hizbullah to join efforts and abide by the Baabda declaration to save Lebanon.

“We are ready to offer sacrifices and to exert all efforts needed to help form a cabinet that meets the ambitions of all the Lebanese and the approval of all parties,” Gemayel said after a meeting with outgoing PM Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail.

Four Israeli soldiers were injured in a landmine blast along the northern border with Lebanon, media reports said on Wednesday.

A Lebanese army communique said that the “Israeli patrol violated Lebanon's sovereignty."

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Wednesday security forces should strike gunmen with an “iron fist” in the northern city of Tripoli, which he described as having an “uncomfortable” security situation and “bad” economic conditions.

“Tripoli residents are fearing an upcoming turmoil … but the army and security forces are coordinating to prevent security incidents,” Charbel said ahead of a meeting of the Central Security Council aimed at implementing a strategy to impose order in the city.

Security forces stepped up security measures near Roumieh prison after obtaining information of riots inside and outside the facility amid reports that an escape attempt was thwarted.

The state-run National News Agency said that the heavy security deployment came in light of reports that the supporters and relatives of Islamist inmates intend to protest outside the facility, while prisoners will riot inside their cells.

President Michel Suleiman has said that the army-people-resistance formula can no longer be used for the new cabinet's policy statement over Hizbullah's involvement in the war in Syria, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The daily quoted Suleiman as telling a delegation from the Beirut National Gathering that the resistance took a unilateral decision to fight in Syria without consulting with the army and the people.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati considered on Wednesday that the disputes in the northern city of Tripoli between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen no longer exist.

“We are witnessing attempts by some mobs to control the city,” Miqati said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea called on the Lebanese to express support to President Michel Suleiman to salvage the state, stressing that the March 14 alliance has no other option but to back Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam in order to reach a neutral cabinet.

“Suleiman is the only remaining symbol for legitimacy,” Geagea said in comments published in al-Akhbar newspaper on Wednesday.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday blamed the “procrastination” in the cabinet formation process on “foreign hegemony,” slamming officials over the “dangerous things” that are happening in the country.

“Officials do not know the reason behind the procrastination in the cabinet formation process and this is one of the ugliest things, as they only execute the orders without knowing the reason,” Aoun told reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabiyeh.