Prime Minister Najib Miqati held talks on Friday with Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss the latest local developments, the state-run National News Agency reported.

According to the news agency, the meeting that was held in Ain el-Tineh tackled the cabinet's decision to refer the new wage scale for public employees to the parliament.

Hizbullah slammed on Friday U.S. President Barack Obama's “appeasement” speech in Israel, considering that his remarks are to “satisfy” the Jewish state.

“Obama's speech is similar to all the hostile and boring stances made by the U.S.,” Hizbullah said in a statement.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel lamented on Friday that Lebanon's political leaders haven't yet taken the bold step to lift the political cover off gunmen in the northern city of Tripoli.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3), Charbel said: “The Tripoli situation is still under control but unacceptable.”

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi stressed on Friday that he will hand over his post at the end of March, ruling out that the cabinet would extend his tenure.

“The extension of my term requires the votes of two-thirds of the cabinet, which will not be provided as more than half of the members reject the extension of my tenure,” Rifi told An Nahar newspaper.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is expected to hold talks on Friday with President Michel Suleiman to brief him on the so-called “Rome agreement,” ahead of a wide meeting with the main Christian leaders.

Al-Liwaa newspaper reported that al-Rahi sought to meet with Suleiman to inform him of the agreement that was agreed upon with Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati during their recent visit to Rome.

Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal, a prominent Salafist leader in Lebanon, revealed Friday that he is capable of issuing a fatwa for jihad to send thousands of fighters to Syria.

“If I wanted to back the Syrian revolution with men, I could have issued a Jihad fatwa to send thousands of men from Lebanon and outside to fight in Syria,” al-Shahhal told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

The cabinet referred on Thursday the new wage scale to the parliament for vote after weeks of nation-wide demonstrations staged by the Syndicate Coordination Committee to protest the council of ministers’ procrastination.

Soon after Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour broke the news to reporters following the cabinet’s eight-hours long session, the SCC announced that it has suspended its open-ended strike, while it criticized the taxes’ increase.

Two people were killed and 17 others were wounded on Thursday as the exchange of gunfire renewed in the Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen and other frontiers in the northern city.

"The casualty toll from the Tripoli clashes has risen to two dead and 17 wounded," LBCI television reported.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday strongly condemned “the attacks on targets on Lebanese soil by the Syrian armed forces,” noting that “these actions constitute a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty.”

She stressed that “attacks against any of the neighboring countries are unacceptable.”

A Cypriot court on Thursday found guilty a self-confessed Hizbullah militant who had been accused of involvement in a plot to attack Israeli interests on the Mediterranean island.

Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, a dual Lebanese and Swedish citizen arrested in the port of Limassol in July last year, was found guilty on five counts -- including participating in a criminal organization, taking part in a criminal act and money laundering.