Security forces on Friday closed all the roads leading to the U.S. Embassy in Awkar because of a nearby rally that was held in celebration of the American withdrawal from Iraq, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.

A statement from the demonstrators praised “the Iraqi people and their resistance that contributed to the country’s liberation.”

President Michel Suleiman on Friday congratulated the Lebanese on the occasion of the New Year, hoping 2012 would be a year of dialogue, understanding and stability.

In a statement issued by his press office, Suleiman hoped “2012 would bring happiness and stability for the nation and would be a year of dialogue and understanding” that would contribute to the productivity of public institutions.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel denied on Friday any al-Qaida presence in Lebanon, stressing that the country could be a route for the group but not a base.

He said during a press conference at the ministry that Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn’s statements on al-Qaida were taken out of context.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said that the Arab observers should be given “some time” to monitor Syria’s implementation of its obligations stated in the Arab protocol.

“If the (observers’ report) was negative, then the international community will have to weigh its options in order to stop the violence,” Feltman said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper on Friday.

The Lebanese Forces condemned on Thursday the death of three Lebanese citizens who were killed by Syrian gunfire in the border area of Wadi Khaled, calling on the government to assume its responsibilities towards the people.

It said in a statement: “The government should also request an immediate clarification from the Syrian government over the incident.”

China on Thursday expressed its support for Arab monitors in protest-hit Syria, after France charged the team had not been allowed to see what was happening in a flashpoint town.

China is a key Syrian ally, and along with Russia has used its veto on the U.N. Security Council to block a Western-backed resolution condemning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Regime forces fired on protesters at a protest hub near Damascus and killed at least 39 people around Syria on Thursday, even as peace monitors spread out across the country, activists said.

Fourteen people were shot dead in several restive Damascus suburbs, 10 in the central flashpoint province of Homs, 13 in the central province of Hama and two in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.

Syria's envoy to Beirut has urged the Lebanese government to prevent cross-border arms smuggling, saying the alleged trafficking was "complementary to terrorism.”

In an interview with the Hizbullah-run website al-Intiqad, Ali Abdul Karim Ali called on Lebanon to take "serious, strict measures to end arms smuggling from Lebanon into Syria and... not give in to international pressure."

A security committee is investigating an incident in which Syrian troops killed three Lebanese men after opening fire on their vehicle in the northern border area of Wadi Khaled, an army source said.

“A committee tasked with investigating the incident immediately began its work,” the source told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Thursday.

Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya has denied allegations that the al-Qaida terrorist network was operating in Lebanon, but stressed that some extremists believe in Osama bin Laden’s thoughts.

The party’s politburo chief Omar al-Masri told An Nahar daily published Thursday that the reports about al-Qaida’s presence in Lebanon “are an old story.”