United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon Commander General Paolo Serra said on Saturday that the peacekeeping mission is determined to halt the hostile practices between Lebanon and Israel and implement the U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

“The past five years were the calmest period in southern Lebanon’s history… and the UNIFIL is determined to help the two parties to maintain a stable cease of hostile practices,” Serra said during a medal ceremony at the Irish contingent headquarters.

Hundreds of Lebanese and Syrian supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad held a sit-in in downtown Beirut on Saturday as a rival rally for anti-Assad protestors was held against violence in the neighboring country, according to the National News Agency.

Activists, intellectuals, and independent Syrian and Lebanese people rallied at the Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut in support of the “Syrian revolution.”

A spiritual Christian-Islamic summit will be held at Bkirki on March 25 in the presence of the head of the Sunni, Shiite, Maronite and Druze spiritual leaders, along with the members of the Christian-Muslim Committee for Dialogue, the Central News Agency reported on Saturday.

“The past few days witnessed intensified contacts to stress the importance of holding a spiritual summit on March 25, which was agreed upon during the last summit at Dar al-Fatwa (in September),” sources from the Christian-Islamic Committee for Dialogue told the news agency.

Lebanon and France began on Saturday a major military exercise in Jounieh, the National News Agency reported.

The maneuvers included air, ground and naval field training exercise conducted by the Lebanese Armed Forces in cooperation with the French Navy helicopter cruiser the Jeanne d’Arc.

Three students were killed and seven others injured on Saturday when part of a cliff collapsed at the Bhanine school in the northern Minieh-Dinniyeh district, the National News Agency reported.

NNA identified the dead as Abdul Rahman al-Siddiq, 16, Osama Zreiqa, 18, and 8-year-old Ahmed al-Rifai.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi arrived on Saturday in Egypt on a four-day pastoral visit that will also include talks with Egyptian officials and clergymen.

“The latest developments in Egypt had postponed our visit, but I insisted on traveling during this critical situation to express solidarity with the Egyptian people,” al-Rahi said from the Saint Joseph Cathedral.

Sources close to Premier Najib Miqati stressed that the government is firm in its decision to preserve the health of the Lebanese, saying the issue of spoiled foodstuff will be followed-up by a ministerial committee during a meeting next week.

The government will not tolerate the violations committed by the owners of warehouses of spoiled meat and other food products, the sources told al-Liwaa daily published on Saturday.

The Terrorist Assets Report referred by the Department of Treasury to the Congress found that around $5 million in Hizbullah assets were blocked in the United States.

A chart in the report said exactly $4,882,893 were blocked as of 2011.

President Michel Suleiman denied that he asked for the amendment of the age of retirement for the army commander to prevent him from announcing his candidacy for the presidency.

In an interview published in An Nahar newspaper on Saturday, Suleiman said: “If army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji retires about nine months before the end of the president’s term, is it permissible to appoint a new army leader?”

Judge Sir David Baragwanath, President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, has decided to temporarily suspend proceedings to define the crime of “criminal association”, following Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen’s rejection of the Prosecutor’s request to amend the indictment, the STL said on Friday.

“The Prosecution had filed a confidential request to amend the indictment on 8 February and sought to add a count of ‘criminal association’ to the indictment. The Pre-Trial Judge then asked the Appeals Chamber to define ‘criminal association’, which is an offence under the Lebanese Criminal Code (article 335),” the tribunal announced in a statement.