Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday hoped Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s new government will shoulder its responsibilities without resorting to “one sided or spiteful” acts.

Upon his arrival in Beirut from a one-week visit to the Vatican during which he met with Pope Benedict XVI, several Holy See officials and a number of Lebanes expats, al-Rahi said: “We hope this government will truly shoulder its responsibilities and work in service of everyone and not in a one-sided or spiteful manner as some are claiming.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon on Sunday noted that “the ICRC and the Lebanese Red Cross are not planning to build a camp for Syrian refugees in northern Lebanon.”

The clarification came in response to a media report published by Ad-Diyar newspaper and circulated by a number of news websites.

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh on Sunday stressed that Lebanon can only survive through “consensus and unity among its various sects.”

“Throughout all the periods of our political action, we have not caused losses to the country like others did,” Franjieh said, addressing the cadres of his movement during a lecture in the northern town of Bnachii.

Head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, former premier Fouad Saniora, vowed Sunday that the March 14 camp will hold onto its stances and “remain committed to its values and principles.”

“In the face of the coup and those who have staged a coup against the democratic system by means of force and intimidation, we won’t be dragged into using force as a method,” Saniora pledged.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated on Saturday that the new majority succeeded in “rattling the mafia empire” that was established in Lebanon by the previous majority.

He said during the annual dinner for the FPM’s Baabda branch: “We are subject to false rumors and you should fortify yourselves against them.”

Syrian troops pushed towards the Lebanese border on Sunday as they pressed a deadly crackdown on dissent in central towns, where gunfire rattled overnight, activists said.

The latest violence in the town of Kseir, near the flashpoint city of Homs, forced "hundreds" of people to flee over the border into Lebanon, the activists said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed that he will not back any side that is seeking a confrontation on the internal and external scenes and aiming to create strife in Lebanon, his sources told Ad-Diyar daily on Sunday.

“Jumblat chose to support the majority out his interest to protect Lebanon from any problems,” they added.

Lebanon First MP Oqab Saqr stated that Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s admission that the party had been infiltrated by Israeli spies is a sign that there is no such thing as a “suitable atmosphere” for harboring such individuals.

He told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published on Sunday: “However, we can say that the Free Patriotic Movement does provide such conditions because it is going out of its way in defending an individual who has been proven to be a collaborator with Israel.”

The President of the United Nations Security Council for the month of July, Peter Wittig, stressed the importance of Lebanon respecting its international commitments.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Sunday that the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati should adhere to international agreements.

Mustaqbal bloc MP Samir al-Jisr stated that President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati were receptive and understanding of Tripoli MPs’ request that the city be removed of its weapons.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Sunday: “A political and security agreement must be reached to follow up on this matter.”