President Michel Suleiman stressed on Wednesday that the capabilities of the Lebanese army should be fortified, pointing out that the military can receive any type of weapons it needs.

“There are no banned arms,” Suleiman said after a short visit to the Headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the southern town of Naqoura accompanied by his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto.

A U.S. defense official has warned that extremist groups could carry out terrorist attacks against the Lebanese army and state institutions, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

The Pentagon official, who was not named, expressed fears that the terrorist networks would attack the military and some government buildings after making several threats in that regard.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed resentment on Wednesday over the failure of the ministerial panel drafting a government policy statement to reach agreement over controversial issues, adding that March 8 coalition is holding onto the resistance clause.

“The remaining timeframe for the panel to draft the policy statement ends next week,” Berri warned in comments published in As Safir newspaper, calling on all sides to exert efforts to find common grounds.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly said on Tuesday that he agreed with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on the importance of holding the presidential polls on time as the means to preserve the country's stability.

“The patriarch and I agreed that stability in Lebanon would be best served by conducting the presidential elections on time on the basis of Lebanon’s constitutional procedures and democratic practice,” said Plumbly following talks with al-Rahi in Bkirki.

President Michel Suleiman urged on Tuesday Lebanon's rival political parties to apologize to the Lebanese people over their failure to implement decisions reached at the all-party talks.

“We should apologize to the Lebanese people” for lack of respect to the decisions taken at the national dialogue table, Suleiman said during a speech at an awards ceremony held at Baabda Palace.

The major powers are locked in a race for influence in Lebanon's presidential elections as Michel Suleiman's six-year term nears its end, As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The daily said that the United States is backing elections to choose a new president and has sent an envoy who has a specific mission to follow up the polls.

March 14 officials and ministers representing the coalition in Prime Minister Tammam Salam's government discussed on Monday night the deadlock on the policy statement as the rival parties continued to hold onto their conditions, An Nahar daily reported.

The newspaper said Tuesday that the meeting mainly tackled the impasse on the blueprint as a seven-member ministerial committee tasked with drafting the statement is scheduled to hold its tenth session.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon submitted last week its fifth annual report to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Tammam Salam, it announced in a statement on Monday.

The start of trial in Ayyash et al. on January 16, 2014, with proceedings broadcast by video-link in Lebanon and internationally, marked a new chapter in the history of the STL.

President Michel Suleiman thanked on Monday Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, for Doha's role in the release in Syria of more than a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns.

A Baabda Palace statement said that during phone conversations, Suleiman also thanked the Syrian government and other parties involved in the release of the nuns in exchange for Syrian authorities setting free dozens of female prisoners.

Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora stressed on Monday that the political rift in Lebanon is the main cause of the poor economic growth and deflation.

“The decline in economic growth and deflation is considered a normal matter amid the current political and security situation,” Saniora said in comments published in al-Liwaa newspaper.