Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Saturday he was personally taking charge of negotiations with Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir to persuade him into ending the sit-in that he launched in the southern city of Sidon earlier in the week.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) and As Safir daily, Charbel said he was personally negotiating with the Imam of Sidon's Bilal bin Rabah mosque to end the sit-it after al-Asir defied calls by the leaders of the city to reopen the highway and said he will keep his supporters on the road pending a solution to Hizbullah’s arms.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat criticized on Saturday the sit-in launched by Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in the southern city of Sidon, saying mistakes are not resolved by committing more blunders.

“We have agreed that the issue of arms cannot be resolved except at the dialogue table and in calm and positive atmospheres,” Jumblat said in remarks to An Nahar daily after al-Asir vowed to keep his sit-in open-ended pending a solution to non-state arms, including Hizbullah’s arsenal.

Hizbullah is committed to the month-long security plan that is being implemented by the state security agencies after it found itself “unable to control its supporters and started suffering the symptoms that affected the Palestinian resistance.”

Arab Movement leader Shaker al-Berjawi said Friday that security forces should curb the “blocking of roads or we will be forced to take action.”

Speaking to MTV, Berjawi said that Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir’s rhetoric is provocative, adding that the state should curb such actions before his supporters “take the appropriate actions.”

Lebanese shepherd Youssef Mohamed Zahra was abducted Friday by the Israeli army near the Southern area of Shebaa Farms, while he was grazing his flock in the Shahel region, state-run National News Agency reported.

The farmer was ambushed by Israeli troops who crossed 20 meters into the Lebanese territory.

The Turkish Parliament voted Friday to extend its troops' mission in Lebanon under U.N. peacekeeping mission UNIFIL by one year.

The extension is the sixth since Turkey initially approved the mission in September 2006. It takes effect from September this year.

Personalities from the southern city of Sidon rejected on Friday Imam of Bilal bin Rabah mosque Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir’s open-ended sit-in that is demanding the elimination of the “hegemony of illegitimate arms.”

Mustaqbal bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora said after the meeting: “We oppose the blocking of roads because it allows others to create instability.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea expressed belief on Friday that Lebanon has reached a better stage amid all the developments in the region, calling on the cabinet to control the security chaos in the country.

“The future of Lebanon seems better… Although the cabinet is leaving the country unrestrained,” Geagea said after meeting with a delegation from Beit Mallat town in Akkar.

The parliament is scheduled to tackle the recent decision by the joint parliamentary committees to permanently employee Electricite du Liban’s contract workers.

An Nahar newspaper reported that the parliament session on Monday will witness a heated debate over the issue as Change and Reform bloc MPs, led by MP Michel Aoun, prepared a constitutional challenge to contest the decision.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel vowed to carry out two to three days of security sweeps each week at the end of the one-month security plan that was launched on Wednesday.

In remarks to al-Mustaqbal daily published on Friday, Charbel said: “The security plan will remain intense throughout the month and after it we will carry out two or three security days per week as the need arises.”