Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri slammed on Thursday the Israeli assault against the Gaza Strip, saying that it demonstrates the “hostile policy of Israel against the Palestinians and Arab people in general.”

He said in a statement: “The occurrence of the attack simultaneously with the ongoing Syrian revolution poses questions over its timing and is a sign of the clear intentions to thwart the revolt as much as possible.”

President Michel Suleiman reiterated on Thursday calls for international pressure on Israel to engage in peace talks with Palestinians, saying war does not contribute to democracy in the region.

In a statement issued by Baabda palace, Suleiman condemned the “barbarous aggression launched on the Gaza (Strip) by Israel, which only uses the language of killing and destruction.”

Around 3,000 Kalashnikov bullets were stolen from a depot for the Internal Security Forces in al-Beddawi in northern Lebanon, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.

According to the newspaper, authorities detained a sergeant and three policemen after suspecting that they had sold the ammunition to the Syrian opposition.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati extended on Thursday his good wishes to Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani and hoped for peace and security in Lebanon on the occasion of the Islamic New Year.

Miqati made an early morning visit to the Mufti at Dar al-Fatwa to extend his wishes.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon considered that there are deliberate attempts to destabilize the situation in Lebanon, expressing his “deep concern” over the possibility of the Syrian crisis spilling over into the country.

Ban stressed that the international community is determined to preserve stability in Lebanon, saying there should be no impunity in the October 19 assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau Chief Wissam al-Hasan.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed on Thursday that hijacking the state's will harms the Lebanese as he is holding onto toppling PM Najib Miqati's government and the formation of a cabinet that is capable of carrying out “fair elections.”

“We have no choice as Lebanese but to meet under the auspices of the state and its institutions... No team has the right to control another by its military force or through its regional links,” Hariri said in an interview with pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat.

The Office of the Prosecutor for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has analyzed a videotape from the scene of the blast that killed Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief and ruled that none of the suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination were appearing in it, As Safir daily reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said the Prosecutor's office had unofficially received one of the videotapes that caught the Oct. 19 car bomb blast in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district, which left ISF Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan and two others dead.

The Higher Defense Council rejected declaring the southern city of Sidon a military zone to avoid the embarrassment over the failure of the Lebanese Army to enter the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, media reports said Thursday.

The Council, which met under President Michel Suleiman at Baabda Palace on Wednesday, tasked armed forces with taking all measures to prevent attempts to undermine security and preserve civil peace.

Lebanon's Higher Defense Council on Wednesday rejected a proposal by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel to turn Sidon into a military zone in the wake of the deadly clashes that killed three people and wounded several others in the southern city.

“The council discussed the security situation in the country in general and in Sidon in particular and the security and judiciary authorities have been tasked with taking all necessary measures to prevent any security violations and preserve civil peace,” said the council's secretary-general Maj. Gen. Adnan Merheb after a meeting at the Baabda palace.

Independence Movement leader Michel Mouawad met on Wednesday with representatives of March 14 at the offices of the Phalange party in Melbourne, Australia.

Mouawad, who is on a political visit to the country, discussed with the group the situation of Lebanese expatriates and the latest political and security developments in Lebanon.