Gunmen have been roaming the streets of the northern city of Tripoli on Monday morning in a show of support to Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, reported the National News Agency.

The gunmen on motorcycles have been firing gunshots into the air in order to intimidate the people and force them to close their stores.

Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora called on Monday on the army to confiscate the arms in the possession of gunmen and impose a curfew in the southern city of Sidon to prevent further deterioration.

“The army must end any armed presence in Sidon, including the Hizbullah-affiliated Resistance Brigades,” Saniora said.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi described on Monday as “executioners” all parties that use illegitimate arms against the Lebanese people, saying the country was paying the price of their actions.

“When we use illegitimate arms against the people of our nation we all become executioners,” al-Rahi said during a ceremony in Adma, north of Beirut.

Caretaker Education Minister Hassan Diab announced that Monday's Middle school official exams, Brevet (BR), in several areas across Lebanon were postponed.

“Official exams in Leilaki center, which includes around 250 students, and in 10 other exam halls in Sidon were postponed,” Diab told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

The army on Monday stormed the security zone of Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir's mosque in the Sidon suburb of Abra and arrested a number of gunmen as the Islamist cleric fled to an unknown destination, following clashes that left 16 troops martyred.

Several local TV networks aired live footage showing army troops advancing into Asir's security zone and arresting a number of his gunmen.

Speaker Nabih Berri considered on Monday that targeting the army is rejected and condemned, describing it as a “treason.”

“The army command has the right to do whatever it sees appropriate to defend the country and prevent anyone from meddling with its security,” Berri said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Sunday called for supporting the army in order to “foil strife,” saying the clashes-hit southern city of Sidon “must be returned to its people away from the 'Asirist phenomenon',” in reference to Islamist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.

“The army and the state are our only option and I contacted everyone to tell them that Sidon must remain the capital of the resistance and must be spared the Syrian conflict,” Jumblat said in an interview on al-Jadeed television, in the wake of clashes in Sidon's Abra between the army and Asir's supporters that left 10 army troops dead, among them two officers.

Sunday’s clashes in the southern city of Sidon spilled over other Lebanese regions, as roads were blocked in the North, the Bekaa and Beirut and army patrols came under fire in Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp.

This come after two army officers, a sergeant and three soldiers were martyred and several others were wounded earlier on Sunday in a clash with supporters of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in the Sidon suburb of Abra, the Army Command said in a statement.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri warned on Sunday against any attempt to drag the southern city of Sidon into a “confrontation with the state,” holding Hizbullah responsible for “provoking the city’s residents.”

“We warn against attempts to drag Sidon into a confrontation with the state and the army ,” Hariri said in a statement he released commenting on the latest clashes between the military institution and supporters of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Bahia Hariri stated on Sunday the clashes in the southern city of Sidon between the gunmen of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and the army “aimed at stirring a premeditated sedition.”

“Today we are counting on the army more than ever and these clashes are aimed at stirring a premeditated sedition,” Hariri said in a phone call with Future television.