Protesters took to the streets of Beirut Saturday on International Women's Day to demand better protection for women amid an uproar over husbands murdering their wives.

The march by some 4,000 women, men and children from the National Museum to the Palace of Justice, was led by mothers and other relatives of women they said had been the victims of domestic violence.

An Internal Security Forces Unit exchanged fir on Tuesday with suspects during a raid in the Taamir Ain el-Hilweh area in the southern city of Sidon.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the raided the area in search for wanted suspects.

Rockets hit on Saturday a town in the Bekaa a day after the Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed an attack on nearby areas.

The state-run National News Agency reported that two rockets fired the eastern mountain range landed near Hermel public hospital.

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Saturday that the Baabda declaration reflects the aspirations of the Lebanese, calling on the arch-foes to ink the cabinet's policy statement based on the consensus of its formation.

“The state is the only guarantee for national unity and history has proved that we are strong when we have agreement on the broad national issues,” Suleiman said in a speech during the opening of Lebanese Economic Forum at the Four Seasons Hotel in Biel.

The Bekaa town of Baalbek has witnessed a series of kidnappings for ransom and car robbery over the past year, mainly on the Riyaq-Baallbek and Baalbek-Homs highways, targeting Lebanese nationals and foreigners as well, An Nahar newspaper reported on Saturday

Kidnappings have been recorded on an almost daily basis in the said area and the perpetrators are said to be gangs roving the highways waiting for their next hunt.

Ties between President Michel Suleiman and Hizbullah reached a standstill as efforts exerted by officials to end the ongoing dispute didn't make any breakthrough.

A source close to Hizbullah told al-Liwaa newspaper, published on Saturday, that “the resistance will not accept anything less than an apology in order to reconsider rectifying the ties with Suleiman.”

The Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades stressed that its operations in Lebanon don't target innocent civilians, accusing Hizbullah of using "human shields."

The brigades said via twitter on Satruday that a flaw occurred during the attack on the Iranian cultural center in Beirut's southern suburbs, causing a high number of casualties.

The Internal Security Forces freed on Saturday 10-year-old Michel al-Saqr, the son of a reputed businessman, a day after he was kidnapped, the state-run National News Agency reported.

According to NNA, Saqr was freed in the Bekaa village of Talia without the payment of a ransom.

Gunmen opened fire at security forces Friday evening in the Bekaa town of Brital after the army carried out raids in search for the abducted 10-year-old child Michel Ibrahim al-Saqr.

“A number of gunmen crossed an army checkpoint in Brital and opened fire at the troops, who responded in kind,” state-run National News Agency reported.

National Liberal Party leader MP Dory Chamoun announced on Friday suspending his party's membership in the March 14 General-Secretariat.

"We did not withdraw our membership in the General-Secretariat but we are taking a long break,” Chamoun said in a statement to MTV.