General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim on Tuesday confirmed media reports that the arrest of Salafist activist Shadi al-Mawlawi was coordinated with a Western security agency, noting that al-Qaida exists in Lebanon and hinting that Mawlawi is a Qaida member.

Speaking to the correspondents of Arab newspapers in Lebanon, Ibrahim said: “As to Mawlawi’s case, I believe that the issue is thorny and weighty, and we have been following up on the case since 13 days without informing anyone in Lebanon because confidentiality is an essential part of our job. This case has major repercussions and local and international aspects.”

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday called for “removing illegal arms” from Tripoli, which has witnessed three days of deadly clashes, holding the government responsible for “any negligence or procrastination in implementing the necessary measures to protect the city.”

“The residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen belong to one city and they reject fighting and infiltrators,” the bloc said in a statement recited by ex-PM Fouad Saniora, following an emergency meeting in Tripoli’s Quality Inn Hotel.

A fierce armed clash erupted on Tuesday between the families of al-Nashar, Hrash and al-Naanai in al-Rifaiyeh in central Tripoli, leaving three people wounded and raising tensions in the city which is still reeling from three days of deadly sectarian clashes.

“The army has managed to contain the clashes in al-Rifaiyeh, which had nothing to do with the Bab al-Tabbaneh-Jabal Mohsen clashes,” Radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) reported.

Lebanese national Ali Abu Bakr was killed and several other citizens were hurt on Tuesday when a mortar round fell inside Syrian territory facing the Bekaa border town of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali, state-run National News Agency reported.

Abu Bakr, a farmer, was cultivating his grove inside Syrian territory when the deadly shell fell during clashes between Syrian forces and rebels.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Tuesday announced that calm has been restored in the northern city of Tripoli following a ceasefire, noting that the army took the necessary precautions to preserve the truce and that it had deployed in four hotspots.

"Hostilities have ceased in Tripoli," Miqati told reporters in a press briefing held in Beirut, adding that "the past 48 hours have been difficult."

Phalange MPs Samer Saadeh and Sami Gemayel presented on Tuesday a draft law on turning the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon into a national holiday.

The first article of the law called for dedicating April 26 of every year as the day of “resistance and liberation from the Syrian occupation.”

Electricite du Liban's contract workers forced employees at the company’s headquarters in Mar Mikhael to evacuate the first floor, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The NNA said that the contract employees cut off the electricity on the floor.

President Michel Suleiman stressed that Lebanon’s stability cannot be harmed as long as the Taif Accord still stands, noting that the clashes in the northern city of Tripoli have been caused by the mounting security tensions, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Tuesday.

He told the newspaper: “The clashes in Tripoli have nothing to do with the Syrian crisis.”

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Tuesday that he would sign the $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending bill if the necessary modifications were carried out.

“The campaign against me is useless,” Suleiman stated in an interview with al-Liwaa newspaper.

Members of the oil authority expressed their reservations on the appointment of Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour as the head of the regulatory committee, As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Sources told the daily that the “silent” disputes erupted among the members after divisions emerged over who should be appointed as the head of the committee.