People affiliated with the deputy head of the Arab Democratic Party, Rifaat Eid, were behind the deadly clashes that erupted between Sunnis and Alawites in the northern port city of Tripoli last Friday, al-Mustaqbal daily reported.

The newspaper said Tuesday there is “tangible proof” that a group of men affiliated with Eid were behind the eruption of violence between Tripoli’s districts of Bab al-Tabbaneh that is mainly Sunni close to former Premier Saad Hariri and Jabal Mohsen whose residents are Alawites allied with Hizbullah and Syria.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri slammed Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun saying the only people who would land in jail are the assassins of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

“The only people whose fate is prison are the killers of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and all the Cedar Revolution martyrs, and the mentally sick people who are protecting them,” Hariri’s press office said in a statement late Tuesday.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Tuesday denied that the meetings held recently by the March 14 forces in France were aimed at “drawing up a plan for the future,” noting that “there’s no need to agree on a plan, as coordination with former premier Saad Hariri has not stopped.”

In an interview with France 24 television, Gemayel clarified that the meeting he held in Paris with Hariri was aimed at consulting with the ex-PM on “how to deal with a government controlled by Hizbullah.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Tuesday voiced his surprise over recent remarks by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, stressing that “it is unacceptable to cross the limits of courtesy and respect in our political discourse.”

“It is surprising that such remarks were voiced by a responsible man such as General Aoun,” Miqati told reporters after the second meeting of the committee tasked with drafting the Policy Statement of the new government.

The Mustaqbal bloc condemned on Tuesday the statements of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and those of the members of his bloc, saying that they demonstrate “the extent of their spite”.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “They unveil their vengeful intentions aimed at eliminating the other, which is an approach that has been created and perfected by Hizbullah in its political practices.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun criticized on Tuesday the opposition’s attack on the new government, labeling it as “rude” because a new cabinet should be granted a 100-day grace period.

He said after the movement’s weekly meeting: “They didn’t appreciate our ‘one way ticket’ joke. A new ward is being prepared for them in Roumieh prison and they will be granted a ‘one way in’ ticket for it.”

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said on Tuesday that Lebanese authorities had information indicating seven Estonian cyclists kidnapped three months ago in the Bekaa Valley were still alive.

"According to the information I got from Lebanon's president, the kidnapped Estonians are alive and work to free them continues," Paet told Estonia's Kuku radio from Beirut on Tuesday.

Lebanon's authorities have released all Syrian refugees in Lebanon who had been detained for not having identity papers, activists said on Tuesday.

"Lebanese authorities have now released all Syrians who fled into Lebanon and were later detained for not having identity papers," human rights lawyer Nabil Halabi, who heads the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, told Agence France Presse.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams welcomed on Tuesday the “positive role” played by Speaker Nabih Berri in the formation of the government.

“I welcomed the formation of the Lebanese government last week and also the particular role that Speaker Nabih Berri played, the positive role, in the formation of the government,” Williams said after holding talks with head of the Amal movement.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi wished the new government success on Tuesday in order for it to meet the people’s high expectations given the crises in the Middle East.

He made his statements from the Vatican, where he arrived on Sunday to take part in the Middle East synod.