A rocket-propelled grenade hit the main street in the al-Baqqar neighborhood in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday, two days after clashes over an anti-Syria rally killed seven people, state-run National News Agency reported, without elaborating.

But MTV said the grenade caused no casualties when it struck the neighborhood.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel vowed on Sunday to prevent the Internal Security Forces from entering the political game and said he would hold them accountable if they made mistakes.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5), Charbel said he won’t allow any side to shove politics into security agencies because politics had ruined them.

Libyan officials showed reporters five bodies, two of them of toddlers, they said were among nine civilians killed in a "barbaric" NATO air raid Sunday, as pressure mounted on the alliance to allow a political solution.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim accused the Western alliance of "deliberately targeting civilians," insisting there were no military targets anywhere near the residential neighborhood of the capital that was hit.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Sunday that he gave his blessing to the new cabinet when President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati signed the decrees of its formation.

Before heading to the Vatican, al-Rahi said the government should meet the expectations of the Lebanese and its top priority should be to restore trust and unity among the people.

Sources close to Premier Najib Miqati have accused the March 14 forces of truncating his remarks on the incidents in the northern port city of Tripoli to create tension.

In remarks to al-Mustaqbal newspaper published Sunday, the sources expressed surprise at “not taking Miqati’s statement seriously in an attempt to fabricate a new source of political differences.”

The Lebanese army is expected to remain in a state of alert in the northern port city of Tripoli for a period of three to six months to contain the latest deadly clashes that erupted between Alawites and Sunnis over a rally against the Syrian government.

Officials in Tripoli that are in contact with security authorities told An Nahar daily published Sunday that “the army succeeded in putting an end to the lava of the Syrian volcano and would continue along with the security forces to confront” a new eruption.

The North’s Lebanon First MPs lamented on Saturday that the residents of the deprived areas in Lebanon would have to pay the price of petty disputes in Lebanon, reported the National News Agency.

They said after holding a meeting at MP Samir al-Jisr’s residence: “We are even more saddened by Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s indirect accusation against the opposition of being responsible for the unrest when he said that the opposition must be ‘constructive and peaceful’.”

Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi stated on Saturday that the clashes that erupted in Tripoli on Friday came as a response to the government formation.

He said after holding talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas at the Grand Serail that the cabinet was a product of parliament’s will.

The Mufti of Tripoli and the North Malek al-Shaar launched on Saturday a series of contacts with officials from Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in the wake of Friday’s clashes.

His contacts are aimed at paving the way for holding a meeting to set the appropriate mechanisms to end the unrest in the northern city of Tripoli.

A cautious calm has fallen over Tripoli following Friday’s unrest between gunmen in the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, as media reports said that intermittent gunfire was heard near the area on Saturday morning.

The unrest broke out when Bab al-Tabbaneh residents staged a demonstration in support of the Syrian people, while the other neighborhood staged a demonstration in support for the Syrian regime.