Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan on Friday reiterated his support for Prime Minister Tammam Salam and said in his Eid al-Fitr sermon that the parties paralyzing state institutions are wrong-doers.

Salam is putting up with a lot of problems, Daryan said at Mohammed al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut. “We are with him and we back him to continue his work in the government.”

Supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement staged a new motorized protest Thursday in the Northern Metn region, as FPM members distributed leaflets in Jbeil and Batroun to explain demands and mobilize the public opinion.

FPM supporters gathered outside the movement's Northern Metn headquarters in Nahr el-Mot before taking off in convoys that roamed the Amaret Chalhoub, Zalka, Jal el-Dib, Antelias and Dbaye areas, state-run National News Agency reported.

Change and Reform bloc MP Alain Aoun confirmed on Thursday a Hizbullah initiative to bridge the gap between Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

Aoun told An Nahar daily that Hizbullah's attempt to end the rift between Berri and the FPM chief is aimed at limiting tension and discussing the speaker's call for opening an extraordinary legislative session.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has expressed confidence that Lebanon's Christians were not satisfied with the protests led by the Free Patriotic Movement of MP Michel Aoun against him.

“ I am sure through the reactions I have heard that the Christians were not satisfied with what the FPM did,” Salam, told his visitors, according to al-Joumhouria daily published on Wednesday.

The Change and Reform bloc condemned on Tuesday the silence over the “assaults committed against student demonstrators” in front of the Grand Serail last week, while demanding that agreements made over the cabinet's decision-taking power be respected.

MP Ibrahim Kanaan said after the bloc's weekly meeting: “It is everyone's duty to respect the agreements made at government regarding its mechanism.”

Several parties have launched initiatives to resolve the dispute among cabinet members over the government's decision-making mechanism, sources said.

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat, a centrist, has tasked Health Minister Wael Abou Faour to hold talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Hizbullah officials.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam stressed on Sunday that he will not let the attempts to obstruct the cabinet succeed in their endeavors, calling on all parties to keep political differences away.

“I will not allow any attempts to obstruct the cabinet's work. Let them keep their political differences away from the government,” said Salam during a meeting with popular delegations at his residence.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said on Sunday that the Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun will never be a president, criticizing the street mobilizations that the latter kicked off during the latest cabinet session.

“Aoun will never be a president. What he did in the streets only indicate a state of national downfall and is a proof that he is not fit to handle responsibility at the level of the state,” said Rifi in an interview to the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily.

A European diplomatic source said that the United States will not accept vacuum in the leadership of Lebanon's military institutions, warning that it could halt the aid program it provides to the army, the Kuwaiti al-Qabas daily reported on Sunday.

The United states, which continuously provides the army with aid and cover to dismantle terrorist cells, will not accept vacuum in the leadership of the military institution, threatening that it could reconsider the aid program if that happened, the daily added.

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq returned to Lebanon from a trip to Saudi Arabia where they held talks on the latest local developments with Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

Informed sources told the daily: “The officials agreed on measures to confront these developments and prevent the escalation of the government crisis.”