President Michel Suleiman approved on Friday promotions of Internal Security Forces officers ranked up to colonel, in a measure that was approved by ISF chief Ashraf Rifi and Premier Najib Miqati.

Official sources told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday that the development has not settled the dispute over the promotion of ISF Intelligence Bureau chief Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, noting that a procedure could be adopted that would allow his promotion to be effective in 2012.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Friday described the progress of the so-called Arab Spring as a “leap backwards,” warning that “some movements will install new dictatorships when they assume power.”

“The events in the Arab countries are a leap backwards and the real revolution happens in one’s own mind and against obsolete traditions,” Aoun said in an interview on Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon Victims' Participation Unit on Friday reminded “victims of the 14 February 2005 attack that if they wish to participate in proceedings before the Tribunal in the Ayyash et al case, they must submit an application by Monday 31 October 2011.”

“This deadline was set by the Pre-Trial Judge (Daniel Fransen) in an order of 8 September 2011,” STL’s press office said in a statement.

A senior Lebanese security source told the BBC on Friday that members of Hizbullah had allegedly “kidnapped three Syrian nationals” in Beirut overnight Thursday.

“The abducted Syrians are the two brothers Yassine and Mustafa al-Sahn and Issa Saleh, who were kidnapped from their residence place in the Bir Hassan area in the Lebanese capital Beirut and taken to an unknown destination,” the BBC’s correspondent in Beirut quoted the source as saying.

The head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad stressed in Friday the need for ongoing cooperation and coordination between Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement.

He stated after holding talks with FPM leader MP Michel Aoun: “Reports of tensions between us and the FPM are baseless.”

Syria slammed United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s recent report on the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, saying that it has not meddled in Lebanese affairs or infiltrated Lebanese territory, reported the daily An Nahar on Friday.

Syria’s permanent ambassador to the U.N. Bashar al-Jaafari informed Ban in a letter: “The majority of the information on Syria mentioned in the report is based on misleading and fabricated media sources.”

United Nations Security Council members urged the Lebanese cabinet to implement its international commitments, especially the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, An Nahar newspaper on Friday.

The members advised “Lebanon to implement its commitment to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and pay its dues,” the daily said.

Al-Akhbar newspaper denied on Friday that a meeting was held between Syrian president Bashar Assad and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

“The meeting was not held, the statements were not credible, and they are baseless,” the daily said.

Cabinet decided on Thursday to form a committee, headed by Prime Minister Najib Miqati, to address the State Council’s reservations on the government’s draft plan to increase minimum wage, reported the daily An Nahar on Friday.

Information Minister Walid al-Daouq quoted him as saying after the session: “We will consider the council’s position because we are keen on reaching an agreement that respects the laws and meets the employees’ demands.”

The government on Thursday approved a draft law proposed by Education Minister Hassan Diab on increasing the salaries of full-time Lebanese University professors, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq announced after a cabinet meeting.

The president of the League of Lebanese University Professors Charbel Kfoury told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Friday: “In principle, we should be able to congratulate the Lebanese University and its professors on the achievement.”