Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora on Saturday met with President Michel Suleiman before traveling to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Saniora held talks with Suleiman at Baabda palace on Saturday morning. He then traveled to Riyadh at the head of a delegation from al-Mustaqbal movement.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged the authorities on Saturday not to allow arms smuggling and prevent the use of Lebanese territories as bases to attack Syria, warning against attempts to push Lebanon to a national crisis in search for a huge change that includes turning it into statelets.

“We urge the authorities to make sure that arms are not smuggled and that Lebanese territories are not used to transfer them to Syria or that its land is not used for bases of defense or attack,” Al-Rahi said in his Easter message.

President Michel Suleiman set April 5 and 6 as the dates of the consultations to name a new prime minister in Lebanon.

The presidency said in a statement that the binding parliamentary consultations to name a new premier will kick off at the Baabda Palace on Friday, April 5 and end on the next day.

United States Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly expressed on Thursday her country's support for efforts to form a new government in Lebanon.

She said after holding separate talks with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati: “The process to form a new government is, and must be, a Lebanese one.”

Centrist Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is exerting efforts to reach consensus among foes over the formation of the new cabinet and the name of the candidate to the premiership, media reports said on Thursday.

Sources close to Jumblat said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper that the rival March 8 and 14 alliances are intensifying talks over the formation of the government to resolve the dispute.

President Michel Suleiman held talks with Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday to set the stage for future consultations with parliamentary blocs to name a new premier.

Suleiman, who returned from the Arab League summit in Doha on Wednesday, met with Miqati at Baabda palace for around 60 minutes to set the appropriate date for the consultations, a presidential statement said.

The March 14 General Secretariat noted on Wednesday that Hizbullah's allies can no longer cover up the party's regional agenda.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The resignation of Premier Najib Miqati demonstrated that Hizbullah's regional agenda has become a burden on its allies.”

Lawmakers representing the March 8 alliance called on Wednesday on Speaker Nabih Berri to hold a parliamentary session for the approval of the so-called Orthodox Gathering draft-law.

“The March 8 parliamentary blocs insist on holding the elections on time based on a law other than the 1960 law,” Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan told reporters at the parliament in Beirut's Nijmeh Square.

The case of the nine abducted Lebaese pilgrims in Syria's Aazaz was the main topic of discussions between President Michel Suleiman and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on Wednesday.

Suleiman and al-Thani also tackled the latest developments in the Arab countries and the bilateral ties between the two countries.

A March 14 opposition alliance delegation handed Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday a petition that calls for the extension of the tenures of top security officials.

The petition with nearly 69 signatures was handed over to Berri during a visit to Ain el-Tineh. It calls for holding a parliamentary session to discuss an urgent draft-law to modify the retirement age of officers in leadership posts in the army, the Internal Security Forces and other security agencies.