President Michel Suleiman hailed on Saturday the interception of a ship suspected of delivering weapons to Syria as the Lebanese army issued a statement confirming the incident.

“The army intercepted on Friday Sierra Leone-flagged Lutfallah II ship suspected of carrying weapons and ammunition to Syria,” the statement said.

President Michel Suleiman noted that in light of the changes in the Arab world, it would be unacceptable for Lebanon to fail to hold the parliamentary elections in 2013, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

He told the newspaper: “The elections should be held regardless of which electoral law is adopted.”

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffery Feltman is expected to arrive in Lebanon next week where he is scheduled to hold talks with a number of officials, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

The talks are likely to focus on the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon and the 2013 parliamentary elections, said the daily.

Unidentified individuals on Friday deliberately set fire to used tires dumped in an area adjacent to the Bourj Hammoud landfill, causing an “environmental disaster” and sending plumes of smoke that filled the sky over Beirut and its suburbs.

According to MTV, the fire -- which was first reported as having taken place in Bourj Hammoud’s landfill – resulted from the burning of tires by “those who want to financially benefit from the copper (contained in tires), whose prices have soared lately.”

Pictures of a number of ministers and MPs have been posted along the walls of the Hamra area in Beirut, accusing them of “breaching public morality.”

Some posters also accused them of being “racist” and “sectarian.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stated on Thursday that Lebanon “cannot rise” without its local residents and expatriates, highlighting the Lebanese cabinet’s approval of a mechanism to allow expatriates to vote in the 2013 parliamentary elections.

He urged before Lebanese expatriates in Belgium “Lebanese all over the world to register at embassies and consulates in order to be able to vote in the elections.”

The head of the Tawhid movement Wiam Wahhab refused on Friday to accuse any side of being behind the bombing of his movement’s newly-established office in the early morning hours of Friday.

He said during a press conference: “Some sides are targeting me and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat.”

An initiative launched by Speaker Nabih Berri on the adoption of proportional representation is likely to collapse after Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat reiterated that he rejects proportionality.

Berri’s initiative calls for the adoption of that type of representation by considering Lebanon a single district in the 2013 parliamentary elections.

The United States is intensifying its scrutiny of Lebanon's financial system over concerns that Syria, Iran and Hizbullah are using Lebanese banks to evade international sanctions and fund their activities, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“The Treasury Department and Drug Enforcement Administration are continuing an aggressive probe into an alleged Hizbullah-linked money-laundering operation,” the Journal quoted U.S. officials as saying.

Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi has appeased fears on the fate of salaries of civil servants, saying the employees in state institutions will receive their wages but all other spending would stop if the government doesn’t make additional appropriations.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Friday, Safadi said: “Pending the approval of the additional funds, all spending would stop except for the payment of salaries for employees, contractors and pensioners in the public sector.”