State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered on Monday the arrest of eight people, including Hatem al-Janzarli, in connection to the clashes in the northern city of Tripoli, reported the National News Agency.

It said that he also requested investigating the identity of some 60 individuals in order to take the necessary legal measures against them.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel called on Monday from Bkirki on the rival parties to hold the Presidential elections on time and for the swift formation of a new cabinet.

“The situation in the country is very dangerous and it can't go on. It's as if the leaders are incapable of confronting the impending challenges,” Gemayel told reporters after talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Customs agents at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport thwarted at dawn Monday an attempt to smuggle several kilograms of cocaine into Lebanon from Brazil, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said a 37-year-old Brazilian was arrested after the agents found 6 kilos of the drugs stashed "professionally" in a briefcase with a double bottom.

Clashes between rival neighborhoods renewed on Monday evening in the northern city of Tripoli and the army staged raids to arrest gunmen, after sniper fire wounded seven people during the day.

“The fighting has resumed on the fighting frontiers of al-Mallouleh, al-Mankoubin, al-Riva and Jabal Mohsen,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef said on Monday that joining the cases of Ayyash et al. and the fifth suspect Hassan Habib Merhi is up to the international judges.

“The second Pre-Trial Conference by the Trial Chamber of the STL on Monday will decided the matter,” Youssef told An Nahar newspaper.

Qatar reportedly reversed on Monday a decision to expel Shiite Lebanese citizens from the Gulf country.

"Qatar decided to suspend a decision to expel Lebanese expats after a mediation by General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim," OTV said on Monday evening.

Speaker Nabih Berri has proposed a plan to salvage the northern city of Tripoli that has been engulfed in deadly sectarian clashes linked to the war raging in neighboring Syria, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Monday.

The daily said that Berri made his proposal to Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati before his latest visit to Tehran.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati lashed out on Monday at former Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, a day after the official urged the premier to “raise the voice” to stop the deadly clashes in Tripoli or leave his post.

Miqati expressed surprise in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper over Rifi's statements, saying that “Rifi's stance is political.”

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has blamed the recent bout of fighting in the northern city of Tripoli on the “blind hatred” between rival neighborhoods.

Such hatred grew after the twin car bombings that targeted two Sunni mosques in Tripoli last August, Charbel said in remarks to al-Mustaqbal daily published on Monday.

A personal dispute in the Sabra area erupted into heavy gunfire that echoed in the vicinity of the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp and the Tariq al-Jedideh neighborhood on Sunday evening.

MTV said "a personal dispute between a man nicknamed al-Zir and another identified as A. J. erupted into gunfire in the vicinity of the Shatila camp in Beirut."