Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said he was betting on the positive reaction of political forces to the formation of a ministerial committee tasked with finding solutions to the spread of arms across Lebanon.

"It is in the interest of all for weapons to be organized because everyone is harmed by the use of arms," Baroud told An Nahar daily in remarks published Friday.

Mustaqbal bloc MP Nohad al-Mashnouq noted Friday that the recent clashes in Borj Abi Haidar have removed all reasons for maintaining weapons in Beirut and have stripped the arms of their "holy" label.

He told the daily Asharq al-Awsat: "We will not back down from our peaceful and civil resistance and our demand that Beirut be devoid of weapons."

Minister of Labor Butros Harb stressed Friday that any solution to the widespread possession of arms in Lebanon requires follow up by the political powers.

He told Future News that the political powers should support the ministerial committee that Cabinet formed in order to tackle the arms possession.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said the latest clashes between Hizbullah and al-Ahbash gunmen in Borj Abi Haidar were part of the organized campaign to weaken Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

The clashes were also aimed at targeting the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the logic of justice, Geagea told al-Liwaa daily in remarks published Friday.

General Prosecutor Said Mirza hasn't yet received any answer from Hizbullah official Wafiq Safa on Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare's request to provide the remaining material to which the Hizbullah chief referred to in his press conference on August 9.

An Nahar daily said Friday that Mirza would make the announcement in a statement upon receiving Hizbullah's answer.

President Michel Suleiman is scheduled on Friday to visit the Shouf Cedar nature reserve and later make a family visit to Mukhtara and stay for dinner at Druze leader Walid Jumblat's residence.

Jumblat, in return, would visit Suleiman at this summer presidential palace in Beiteddine on Saturday. An Nahar daily said that the Progressive Socialist Party leader asked current and former MPs in the Mountains to accompany him.

Sources close to Prime Minister Saad Hariri have denied media reports that the Mustaqbal movement leader would visit Damascus on Monday and meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad during an Iftar.

The sources told al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published Friday that Hariri's visit to Damascus would take place soon but no date has been set yet for the trip.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reiterated support for Lebanon's independence and sovereignty and said it was "unacceptable for Lebanon to drown again in the cycle of violence."

In his opening of the 18th conference of French ambassadors at the Elysee palace on Wednesday, Sarkozy also reiterated support for President Michel Suleiman and Premier Saad Hariri.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat noted Thursday that, regardless if the Borj Abi Haidar clash was an individual incident or not, "the state remains the final shelter for protecting national unity and the Resistance … based on the equation of the people, army, and Resistance."

He said in a statement a commitment should be made towards this equation as a general principle, "which means carrying out a serious investigation in the recent unrest on the basis of affirming peace and stability and preventing security disorder."

Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday inspected the neighborhoods that witnessed clashes between Hizbullah and al-Ahbash gunmen in Borj Abi Haidar, Mazraa and Basta.

Hariri was accompanied by Secretary-General of the Higher Defense Council Brig. Gen. Adnan Merheb.