Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji urged officials on Monday to end sedition in the country, saying the Lebanese are holding onto their government and army.

“The problem is with the political rhetoric which is the reason behind the sedition and the tension” among the Lebanese, Qahwaji told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

State commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the arrest of three Lebanese army officers and 19 soldiers who were manning the checkpoint in the Akkar town of al-Kweikhat where Sunni Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed was killed, al-Liwaa daily reported Monday.

The arrests were made after midnight Sunday to investigate the incident which left Abdul Wahed and his aide Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Merheb dead while on their way to attend a rally organized by al-Mustaqbal MP Khaled Daher in Halba, al-Liwaa said.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel denied on Monday that there’s a decision to deploy Internal Security Forces units in the army’s positions in Akkar or any other area across Lebanon.

“The armed forces complement each other,” Charbel told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

Protesters blocked roads on Sunday across Lebanon, including in the capital Beirut, to condemn the shooting death of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed at an army checkpoint in the Akkar town of al-Kweikhat.

The army and security forces managed later to reopen most roads.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Sunday stressed that “no one enjoys immunity and no one is above the law” in Lebanon, in the wake of the shooting death of a Sunni cleric at an army checkpoint in Akkar, calling for an end to the “tense rhetoric.”

“The government is determined to continue to shoulder its national responsibilities amid this critical period in Lebanon and the region, and it will take all measures necessary to preserve civil peace,” said Miqati following a broad security meeting at the Grand Serail aimed at discussing the deadly incidents and its repercussions.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Sunday stressed that supporting the army would serve the project of building the state and prevent civil strife, urging Akkar’s residents “to be vigilant in order not to fall into the traps set up by the Syrian regime.”

Jumblat -- who telephoned former premier Saad Hariri condemning the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and his companion at an army checkpoint in Akkar – reminded the ex-PM of “the honorable national stances he took when the Lebanese army confronted Fatah al-Islam’s gangs in the Nahr al-Bared camp and the embracing of the military institution during that war.”

MP Marwan Hamadeh on Sunday announced that a number of lawmakers will seek a parliamentary probe into “the acts of some army intelligence and General Security agents,” urging Akkar’s residents not to blame the entire military institution for the shooting death of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed at an army checkpoint in Akkar earlier in the day.

“In light of what has been taking place since weeks in some security agencies, especially army intelligence and the General Security, we will call, together with some colleagues, for the formation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry with judicial powers in order to probe the behavior of some personnel belonging to these agencies, which have put the country’s domestic and foreign security in danger, especially after what happened with the Qatari sheikh, citizen Shadi al-Mawlawi and Sheikh Abdul Wahed,” Hamadeh said in a statement.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned on Sunday the murder of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed, demanding that an “immediate investigation be launched in the matter.”

He said in a statement: “We warn the residents of Akkar against committing any retaliatory act that would create chaos in their region as it is clear that there is a plan to target the area for Syrian interests.”

The muftis and clerics of Akkar on Sunday stressed that they will not allow any side to stir a strife between citizens and the military institution and called for a general strike across Lebanon, following the shooting death of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed at an army checkpoint in the Akkar town of al-Kweikhat.

“We call for a general strike tomorrow across Lebanon and for three days of mourning over the slain sheikh,” said a statement issued by Akkar’s muftis and clerics.

A half marathon is scheduled to be held in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday under the title of rejecting war and strife, reported An Nahar daily on Sunday.

The marathon, organized by the “together Lebanon” group, was expected to be held last weekend, but the security situation in the city forced its postponement due to the clashes that broke out between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.