Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour defended the government on Monday against critics that it was showing division over the alleged presence of al-Qaida in Lebanon.

In an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily, Mansour said that Interior Minister Marwan Charbel did not contradict Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn, who had claimed that al-Qaida fighters were active in the eastern border town of Arsal.

Sources close to Premier Najib Miqati have criticized Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun for seeking to impose his demands on the cabinet with the backing of Hizbullah.

Aoun “considers himself the essential Maronite partner if not the only one,” the sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Monday.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has reportedly backed a wage hike proposal made by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas to send a clear message to Premier Najib Miqati that he should take the opinion of the FPM and Change and Reform bloc before taking any decision.

“We are aware that the (cabinet’s wage boost) decision harms the economy and it is difficult to implement it … but we voted in favor of it with the sole aim of making the PM understand that we can break his decisions and that he should take our opinion into consideration,” ministerial sources quoted Aoun as saying in remarks published in pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Monday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called for a “civil, democratic and modern state based on a new social, national contract that improves the implementation of the 1943 National Pact.”

In his New Year’s Day sermon, al-Rahi said that “the modernization of this formula requires respecting diversity within unity, respecting freedom of opinion and thought, and working for the benefit of all citizens and regions.”

Syrian authorities on Saturday seized “quantities of weapons and over 1,000 narcotic tablets near Sweid bridge on the Syrian-Lebanese border and in both cities of al-Qusayr and Tal Kalakh in Homs” near the border with Lebanon, Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported Sunday.

“The weapons included PKM (machineguns), 14 anti-tank shells, 14 RPGs and various rifles,” SANA said.

The Internal Security Forces thwarted on Sunday a break out by three inmates from Roumieh prison, reported Voice of Lebanon Radio.

The ISF have since cordoned off the area amid strict security measures.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated on Saturday that the year 2012 will witness the fall of the Syrian regime.

He said during an LF dinner at Maarab: “The construction of the state in Lebanon will be possible after the collapse of the regime.”

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour praised on Saturday Russia’s position on the Syrian crisis, noting that it had called against foreign meddling in the Arab state since the beginning of the unrest.

He made his statements after holding a meeting with Russian Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin during which he received a letter from his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the situation in Syria.

The March 14 opposition vowed on Saturday to continue in the path of the Cedar Revolution to achieve full sovereignty and strive for stability based on the justice guaranteed by the international tribunal.

A statement issued following a meeting of the March 14 general-secretariat, said the opposition will continue its struggle to achieve “full state sovereignty whereby there won’t be any arms other than the weapons of the state on all Lebanese territories.”

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi stressed that he has “no information” about the presence of al-Qaida in Lebanon, an issue that has stirred controversy in the past week.

In remarks to al-Joumhouria daily published Saturday, Rifi said the ISF helps the Lebanese Army in controlling the border and combatting arms smuggling.