Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun criticized on Friday the rocket attacks in the Baabda region on Thursday, saying that they were a message to President Michel Suleiman and the Lebanese army, reported al-Mada radio.

He told the radio: “It's true that I oppose Suleiman's views, but he should not be criticized in such a debased manner.”

A number of Syrians kidnapped on Friday a Lebanese citizen in the Bekaa region, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Syrians from the town of Yabrod in Syria, near the border with Lebanon, kidnapped Abbas Qasas in the Lebanese town of Arsal.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen on Friday issued an order setting January, 13 2014 as a new “tentative date” for the start of the trial in the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri and his companions, the STL said in a statement.

The rules of the tribunal require Fransen to set a tentative date, “which could change based on judicial developments,” the STL noted.

Hizbullah slammed on Friday reports that linked President Michel Suleiman's speech about the resistance on Army Day to the rockets that landed near the presidential palace in Beirut's suburb of Baabda.

"The goals behind the crime that targeted military sites and the surroundings of the presidential palace in Baabda are known,” the party said in a released statement.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat condemned on Friday the Baabda rocket attack, wondering if it was a crime for President Michel Suleiman to defend the constitution and Lebanon's “democracy and diversity despite their flaws.”

He asked in a statement: “Is it a crime for the president to pinpoint the difficulties facing the army, most notably the contradiction of the presence of legitimate and illegitimate weapons in Lebanon?”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi noted on Friday that the state cannot be constructed in light of the presence of illegitimate weapons.

He urged to al-Masira magazine “armed groups to disarm in favor of the official military and security forces because the moment of truth has arrived.”

President Michel Suleiman asserted on Friday that recurrent messages through anonymous rocket attacks on different areas in Lebanon will not change the national principles or convictions.

“No matter who the perpetrators behind the rocket attacks are and no matter what objective they have, these messages will not change our convictions,” said Suleiman in a statement released by the presidential palace.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea condemned on Friday the Baabda rockets that were fired late on Thursday, lauding President Michel Suleiman's stances on Army Day.

He said in a statement: “I never once imagined that the president could be targeted by Lebanese powers.”

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam denounced on Friday the Baabda rockets incident, describing it as a “dangerous and suspicious.”

“Targeting the areas that include national symbols is a new chapter in the series of suspicious security incidents across the country,” Salam said.

The Army Intelligence detained on Friday Ibrahim Khanjar, who is involved in opening fire at an army patrol last week in the Bekaa town of Majdal Anjar and killing a soldier and injuring another.

Khanjar is also accused of the abduction of the seven Estonians and killing of army intelligence Maj. Abdo Jasser, his companion First Sgt. Ziad al-Mais and another soldier in Majdal Anjar in 2011.