Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Sunday that a decision was taken not to provide political cover for any security violator in the northern city of Tripoli, the scene of deadly clashes since Saturday.

Miqati said the decision was taken following consultations with all the political, religious, security and social figures in Tripoli.

Security forces arrested on Sunday a man after he pointed his gun at the convoy of MP Elie Marouni near the Phalange party offices in the eastern city of Zahle, the National News Agency reported.

NNA later reported that the man, Dr. Pierre Hilal, was in a white Honda when he pointed the gun at the convoy after it reached the party’s offices near the Central Bank. The security forces immediately dispatched patrols to the area and arrested the assailant, NNA added.

Al-Mustaqbal movement urged Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Tripoli ministers on Sunday to resign after the General Security Department lured Shadi al-Mawlawi to arrest him on suspicion of contacting a terrorist organization.

Following a meeting held by al-Mustaqbal Coordination Council in the northern city, the conferees condemned in a statement al-Mawlawi’s arrest after luring him to Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi’s Social Services Center under the pretext of granting him a health care benefit.

The premier of Australia’s New South Wales state, Barry O'Farrell, arrived in Beirut on Sunday at the head of an official delegation for talks with top Lebanese officials.

O’Farrell is scheduled to hold talks with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier Najib Miqati during his three-day visit.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri urged the residents of the northern port city of Tripoli on Sunday to end the fighting, accusing the General Security Department without naming it of becoming an “outlaw” in its arrest of Shadi al-Mawlawi for his alleged terror ties.

“I urge Tripoli residents to remain calm and not to be dragged behind provocation,” Hariri said on his twitter feed.

Two bulldozers and a crane failed on Sunday to demolish parts of the Byblos carpet factory building in the town of Safra that was engulfed in flames two days earlier.

The Internal Security Forces diverted the traffic to the seaside Tabarja-Jbeil road to prevent the debris from falling on the highway at 11:00 pm Saturday. One lane remained open for commuters heading from Jbeil to Beirut.

Four people, including a Lebanese soldier, were killed and at least 25 injured on Sunday in a gunfight between the residents of rival neighborhoods in the northern port city of Tripoli as the area witnessed intermittent clashes, the army and media reports said.

"The Tripoli clashes left at least four people dead and 25 wounded, most of them civilians," reported al-Manar television.

Information Minister Walid al-Daouq shrugged off rumors that the March 8 forces were pressuring Premier Najib Miqati into quitting, saying it was up to him to make such a decision.

“Let’s put things straight: The resignation is in the hands of the prime minister,” al-Daouq told An Nahar newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

A $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending bill was pulled out of the agenda of a cabinet session set to be held on Wednesday pending a consensus between the different parties that make up the government of Premier Najib Miqati.

An Nahar daily said Sunday that copies of the seven-item agenda was distributed to the cabinet ministers without including in it the controversial bill that is set to legalize the government’s spending for 2011.

Two people sustained gunshot injuries on Saturday when unknown assailants opened fire at protesters in Abdel-Hamid Karami Square in Tripoli.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati warned against portraying the northern port city as being out of the state’s legitimacy.