President Michel Suleiman is seeking to relaunch the National Dialogue at Baabda Palace to discuss the country’s defense strategy which he sees should be based on “the positive investment of the resistance weapons,” his sources said.

The sources told As Safir daily published Saturday that Suleiman met with the presidential team involved in the all-party talks to discuss what the National Dialogue has achieved and the reasons preventing the implementation of previous decisions particularly the disarmament of Palestinian bases outside the camps.

Hizbullah is seeking to introduce a new national pact in Lebanon given the various regional developments that have taken place in 2011, reported Akhbar al-Yawm news agency on Friday.

An informed source told the news agency that the party does not believe that the Taif accord “is holy and should not be altered.”

Hundreds of protesters hit the streets in north Lebanon Friday to support the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, organizing blood drives and marching towards the volatile border.

Some 500 Lebanese and Syrians rallied near a border crossing in the Akkar district of Wadi Khaled, which straddles the Syrian border, amid tight security.

A Palestinian, who was suspected of being behind the assassination of Palestinian Armed Struggle chief Mahmoud Issa, has been released, reported Voice of Lebanon radio on Friday.

Abed Abdullah al-Ghazi was released after the Lebanese judiciary interrogated him over his role in the murder of Amer Fustoq.

Security forces on Friday closed all the roads leading to the U.S. Embassy in Awkar because of a nearby rally that was held in celebration of the American withdrawal from Iraq, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.

A statement from the demonstrators praised “the Iraqi people and their resistance that contributed to the country’s liberation.”

President Michel Suleiman on Friday congratulated the Lebanese on the occasion of the New Year, hoping 2012 would be a year of dialogue, understanding and stability.

In a statement issued by his press office, Suleiman hoped “2012 would bring happiness and stability for the nation and would be a year of dialogue and understanding” that would contribute to the productivity of public institutions.

A fire engulfed a sponge and cotton factory in the town of Mazraat Yashouh north of Beirut on Friday, without causing any casualties.

Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) said firefighters brought the blaze at Daou Sponge and Cotton Factory under control a few hours after its eruption around 8:00 am.

The Shura Council has described a cabinet decision on a wage hike as “illegal” after Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas proposed it to the government, knocking down a last-minute deal made between the General Labor Confederation and the Economic Committees, ministerial sources said.

In remarks to pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Friday, the sources expected the Shura Council to refer the decision back to the cabinet.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel denied on Friday any al-Qaida presence in Lebanon, stressing that the country could be a route for the group but not a base.

He said during a press conference at the ministry that Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn’s statements on al-Qaida were taken out of context.

The Higher Defense Council shied away from the claims made by Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn about the presence of al-Qaida in Lebanon in a sign that the state is aware of the dangers of such allegations, high-ranking opposition sources said.

“The disregard for the claims made by the defense minister about the presence of al-Qaida in the Bekaa (valley) proves their lack of credibility and the awareness of the state through its entire constitutional and security institutions that this political mistake could lead it down a dangerous slope particularly at the international level,” the March 14 sources told An Nahar daily published Friday.