U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly has said that Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet “appears to reflect less the will of the people and more the will of external interests.”

During a reception held at the embassy to bid farewell to Public Affairs Officer Ryan Gliha on Wednesday, Connelly said: “There is a danger that Lebanon will lose many of its hard-fought gains on the level of democratic participation and transparency.”

Tawhid movement leader Wiam Wahhab brushed aside on Friday a decision by U.S. President Barak Obama to extend a 2007 freeze of assets against him.

The decision is “meaningless,” Wahhab told Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5), saying “it didn’t affect me in 2007 and won’t affect me today.”

One of the most wanted car robbery suspects and three others were arrested in the Bekaa town of Brital, the general-directorate of the Internal Security Forces announced Friday.

It said the ISF arrested the four men during a raid on the house of the most wanted criminal on Thursday. The communique did not identify the suspects but said that the top criminal is a 41-year-old man who has 28 rulings against him.

U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly has reportedly asked Speaker Nabih Berri why Lebanon would not strike deals with companies to start oil exploration in its territorial waters as Israel did pending a solution to its conflict with the Jewish state on the Exclusive Economic Zone.

Media reports quoted Berri as answering Connelly that the maritime border line between Lebanon and Israel should be drawn. “If someone is seeking or working to reach a peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel to settle the oil issue, then this didn’t and won’t happen.”

Some 300 supporters of the Baath Party, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and Hizbullah on Thursday staged a demonstration in the Roueisat neighborhood in Northern Metn’s Jdeideh district in support of the embattled Syrian regime.

Demonstrators carried pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) reported.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday extended a freeze of assets on persons “threatening stability in Lebanon.”

A White House statement, extending the freeze imposed in 2007, said that "certain ongoing activities, such as continuing arms transfers to Hizbullah that include increasingly sophisticated weapons systems, serve to undermine Lebanese sovereignty."

Hizbullah denied on Thursday accusations by the Syrian opposition that it is suppressing the anti-regime protests in Syria, deeming them as completely baseless.

It said in a statement: “These claims are aimed at stirring strife in the Arab state in order to serve foreign powers.”

Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn stressed on Thursday that the relations between the army and the UNIFIL are strong, the National News Agency reported.

Ghosn discussed with French Ambassador Denis Pietton the latest developments and bilateral relations.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat hoped on Thursday that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi would succeed in uniting Maronite ranks in Lebanon.

He said after meeting with al-Rahi and former Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in Diman: “We hope that this step would be followed by a comprehensive and constructive national dialogue” that would include all parties in Lebanon.

The military court postponed on Thursday the trial of Brig. Gen. Fayez Karam to Aug. 30, after the prosecution demanded reports about his health condition.

Al-Jadeed television reported that the general prosecution asked doctors from Dahr al-Basheq Hospital to submit reports about Karam’s health condition.