Premier Najib Miqati has criticized the “pointless” March 14-led opposition campaigns against him, saying they are only aimed at “preventing him from finding effective solutions to the major problems that the country is suffering from.”

Miqati traveled with his family to Italy on Friday and is expected to return from his vacation on Tuesday, al-Liwaa newspaper said.

President Michel Suleiman has denied that he would visit Damascus along with Premier Najib Miqati, saying however that it was the PM’s duty to travel to Syria.

In remarks to Ad-Diyar daily published Saturday, Suleiman said: “The prime minister’s visit is a duty and is possible at any time but it’s up to him to decide the appropriate timing.”

Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji is scheduled to visit Paris on July 19 for talks with top French army officials to provide military assistance to Lebanon, An Nahar daily reported Saturday.

A high-ranking source told An Nahar late last month that Qahwaji’s visit to Washington and Paris depends on the appointment of a new chief of staff to replace Maj. Gen. Shawqi al-Masri following his retirement.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare is pursuing all the highly credible investigative threads and he will only depend on credible and convincing evidence, Gregory Townsend, acting spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor, said Friday.

In an interview with Lebanese daily Sada al-Balad to be published Saturday, Townsend reiterated that the prosecutor “will not engage in a public debate in the media about the credibility of his investigation or of the investigative process.”

Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas, Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), on Friday visited the newly deployed Irish Battalion in south Lebanon at the start of its mission as part of the U.N. peacekeeping force.

“The contributions of Irish peacekeepers to UNIFIL go back to 1978, as old as UNIFIL. They have lost brave soldiers in the service of peace in this dear land. I am proud to have you here,” Asarta told the Irish peacekeepers.

The Justice Palace in Baabda received a hoax bomb threat on Friday, reported the National News Agency.

It said that an anonymous caller claimed that a bomb was placed in one of the building’s rooms.

Former Premier Saad Hariri does not intend to return to Beirut soon after receiving information from Western leaders about the possibility of being targeted in an assassination plot, sources close to the Mustaqbal movement leader said in remarks published Friday.

The sources said that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and high-ranking U.S. and U.N. officials have warned him about the plot.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea slammed on Thursday the new government, saying that it does not represent Lebanon and will set the country back to a time before the 2005 Cedar Revolution.

He said during a dinner for Lebanese expatriates in Abu Dhabi: “We will work with all possible democratic means to topple this cabinet.”

Speaker Nabih Berri said he would help the cabinet in its mission to deal with the people’s affairs and make administrative appointments to posts in state institutions.

In remarks to Ad-Diyar daily published Friday, Berri said: “The mission of this government lies in launching a workshop, dealing with the people’s affairs and making appointments.”

France said Friday it was "concerned" by the Lebanese government's attitude towards the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that will try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s suspected assassins.

Foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said France had noted Prime Minister Najib Miqati's promise that the cabinet would continue to cooperate with the STL.