The March 14 forces commemorated on Friday the ninth anniversary of the “Independence Uprising” that saw the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 2005 by holding a ceremony that emphasized the importance of the Lebanese state and rejected Hizbullah's actions.

March 14 General Secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid said at the ceremony: “The March 14 forces will remain united and not one of its parties will be victorious over the other.”

Tripoli-based Salafist leader Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi stressed Friday that the northern city's Islamists will not hesitate to go to jihad, or holy war, in support of the regime-besieged Syrian town of Yabrud.

“A lot of those who are collecting extortions in the city are still on the loose and a lot of criminals are still at large, while the free men were arrested, such as Omar al-Homsi, Sheikh Omar al-Atrash, Dr. Abdul Nasser Shatah and others,” Rafehi said outside al-Salam Mosque in Tripoli, after the director of his office Jalal Kalash was arrested at the Rafik Hariri International Airport.

The army arrested on Friday a Lebanese national on charges of smuggling Syrians into Lebanon, reported the National News Agency.

It said that it arrested Ahmed H. at the Ain al-Shaab checkpoint in the Bekaa town of Arsal.

Iran's ambassador, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, said Friday that he delivered a letter to Lebanese authorities protesting a recent statement made by Interior Minister Nuhad al-Mashnouq against Tehran.

The diplomat told reporters after meeting Premier Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail that the official letter of protest was made over al-Mashnouq's remarks against Tehran's regime at the meeting of Arab Interior Ministers in Morocco.

Syrian President Bashar Assad voiced hope on Friday that the next Lebanese president would support the resistance axis, considering that his country and Hizbullah are united and share the same fate.

“We are interested in the opinions of the upcoming Lebanese president and to what he could offer the axis of the resistance, which is the basic criterion for us,” Assad was quoted as saying by his visitors.

The Lebanese army heavily deployed on Friday in the northern city of Tripoli as intermittent gunfire injure three people, including a soldier, in the area a day after clashes erupted between rival neighborhoods.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the army fortified its posts and deployed heavily in various areas in Tripoli, in particular, in Syria street that separates the rival districts of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.

The cabinet is not likely to reach a deal on the controversial resistance clause of the policy statement before a rally organized by the March 14 alliance on Friday afternoon, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said.

In remarks carried by al-Akhbar daily, Jumblat did not expect a deal on the clause although Prime Minister Tammam Salam was eager for the cabinet to meet before the rally to avoid a further deterioration in the row between the March 8 and 14 alliances.

The Lebanese Forces formed a 12-member committee to draft a detailed presidential election program to prepare the candidacy of its leader Samir Geagea as he is threatening to withdraw from the March 14 alliance over the policy statement row.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Friday that the 12-member committee comprises experts in various fields.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is eager to hold a cabinet session on Friday before a rally organized by the March 14 alliance in the afternoon to avoid a further crisis on the policy statement.

According to As Safir, Salam had expressed fears that the rally, which will be held in BIEL on the anniversary of the Cedar Revolution, would complicate the row on the resistance clause of the policy statement.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said a proposal made by him could salvage the government, hoping that Premier Tammam Salam would not resign before Monday.

In remarks to As Safir daily published on Friday, Berri said: “If there were good intentions and readiness to reach a settlement, then this proposal should be accepted by the March 14” camp.