Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has allegedly accepted to give up his demand to keep Caretaker Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas in his post after being pressured by his allies.

Al-Liwaa daily said that a settlement was reached between Aoun and Premier-designate Najib Miqati who succeeded in “liberating” the telecom ministry from “the grip of troublemaker” Nahhas and allotting the labor portfolio to him instead.

Caretaker Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas said that he is still expecting an action to be taken by the military judiciary concerning the official complaint he filed to the government commissioner at the military court against Internal Security Forces Chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi.

“We don’t understand the upheaval created over the issue, and why they are insisting on hiding what the second floor (of a building affiliated with the telecom ministry in Adliyeh) contains,” Nahhas told As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

Sources close to Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri denied that OGERO Telecom Director General Abdul Monhem Youssef had handed over to Army Chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji the magnetic cards of the controversial second floor of a building affiliated with the telecommunications ministry in Beirut’s Adliyeh area.

The sources told al-Akhbar daily that Qahwaji didn’t request to be delivered the keys during his meeting with Youssef on Wednesday. They noted that the meeting was limited to “exchanging points of view.”

Ziad Baroud, who relieved himself from his duties as caretaker interior minister, will not resume his duties, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said that Baroud will not take back his decision as long as the current situation remains the same. It noted that caretaker defense minister Elias Murr will be the acting interior minister when he returns to the country during the weekend.

President Michel Suleiman did not ask caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar to take judicial measures against Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, informed sources told An Nahar daily, claiming that the request to “study” the case was made “orally” and then interpreted by a memo released by the presidency’s general-directorate.

The sources told An Nahar daily on Wednesday that the oral request was based on article 49 of the constitution and did not have a reference for the referral of Rifi to the judiciary over his rejection to comply with caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s order to pull members of the ISF’s Information Branch from a building affiliated with the telecommunications ministry.

Army commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji and Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi have agreed to thwart rallies in support of Rifi in the northern port city of Tripoli, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

An Nahar said that the protestors were planning to burn posters of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at the city’s main squares.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea praised on Tuesday Internal Security Forces chief Major General Ashraf Rifi, saying that the ongoing campaign against him “is targeting the last free position in the Lebanese state.”

He demanded during a press conference an end to the campaign against him, noting: “His tenure at the Interior Ministry contributed to the international investigations for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and uncovered tens of Israeli spy networks.”

Internal Security Forces chief Major General Ashraf Rifi stated that he has not yet looked into the President Michel Suleiman’s demand for legal action to be taken against him following his refusal to abide by caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s order to evacuate a Telecom Ministry building last week.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Tuesday: “I have not examined his demand and I don’t know what it’s based upon.”

The parliamentary telecommunications committee held a meeting on Monday to discuss the suggestion to form a specialized technical team to determine what is located on the second floor of a Telecommunications Ministry building at Adliyeh, revealed the head of the committee MP Hasan Fadlallah.

He said during a press conference after a heated committee session at parliament: “A dispute erupted over who has the authority to appoint an Ogero Telecom member in the technical team.”

The presidency announced on Monday that President Michel Suleiman had requested that the Justice Ministry take legal action against Internal Security Forces chief Major General Ashraf Rifi over his refusal to obey the orders of caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud.

On Thursday, Baroud had ordered Rifi to pull out ISF Intelligence Bureau personnel from the second floor of the building affiliated with the telecom ministry, where OGERO Telecom is in charge of the installations of the third mobile network donated by China to Lebanon according to a cabinet resolution.