Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Friday said “the Mustaqbal Movement and any political party will be forbidden from interfering in the Internal Security Forces’ affairs.”

In an interview with Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television, Charbel added that he will not allow ISF Intelligence Bureau chief Col. Wissam al-Hassan to carry on with playing a “political role.”

The Vice President of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Abdul Amir Qabalan stated on Friday that facts and documents prove that the land in and around the town of Lassa belongs to its residents.

He demanded during Friday Muslim prayers that no one get involved in the matter and that all the residents be treated fairly.

The Maronite patriarchate’s secretary, Monsignor Youssef Toq passed away and will be buried at his hometown of Besharri in northern Lebanon on Saturday, media reports said.

Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) said Toq seems to have died from a heart attack. His body was found in his bed on Friday morning after he failed to appear for breakfast.

Four security forces members were injured on Friday as they were attempting to remove a construction violation at the airport road, reported the National News Agency.

It said that as the Internal Security Forces were trying to remove the violation by the Awad family, a number of women and youths from the Awad and Kheireddine families intervened to stop them by burning tires and pelting them with rocks.

Iraq's Justice Ministry said Friday that plans to transfer a top Hizbullah commander who's being held in Baghdad from U.S. to Iraqi custody have been put on hold.

The turnabout comes as 20 U.S. senators ask the Pentagon to take "whatever steps you can" to prevent the transfer out of fear that the militant, Ali Mussa Daqduq, will escape or be released by Iraq's government.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel revealed on Friday that he has not yet presented any suggestions in the security appointments file.

He therefore denied to LBC television that he is not concerned with any media reports on the matter, hoping that he would reach a conclusion that would “satisfy my conscience.”

President Michel Suleiman has expressed satisfaction with the cabinet’s performance saying it was the duty of all parties to support it in its efforts to meet the people’s demands.

Suleiman has told his visitors that the government was in harmony and was not witnessing clashes between the different parties. The cabinet should be described as centrist although it expresses a one-sided viewpoint.

The U.S. donated to the Internal Security Forces (ISF) facilities, equipment, and supplies valued at over $1.7 million in July, said a U.S. embassy statement on Friday.

The donation includes a new police station in the area adjacent to the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in the north fully furnished and equipped per ISF specifications. The value of this donation is $1,134,570.

The recent dispute between Lebanon and Israel will be a top priority for the Lebanese parliament when it meets on Aug. 3 and 4 and a main concern for the government in its effort to prevent the Jewish state from launching an aggression on Lebanon’s oil and gas fields.

As Safir newspaper said Friday that MPs from major parliamentary blocs could be tasked with preparing a draft-law that confirms Lebanon’s rights on the fields in the contested areas.

U.S. official Frederic Hof is making routine visits to Beirut to follow up the dispute between Lebanon and Israel on their maritime borders, Western diplomatic sources in Beirut said Friday.

The sources told As Safir daily that Hof is visiting Lebanon along with cartographers in an expression of Washington’s interest in solving the feud over oil and natural fields and setting the stage for possible U.S. investments in the sector in the future.