Unrest in Syria could spread to neighboring Lebanon at any moment in light of charges by Damascus that the March 14 forces are backing anti-regime protesters, analysts say.

"Merely stating that Lebanese parties are interfering in Syrian affairs is equivalent to threatening to destabilize Lebanon, irrespective of whether charges of funding and arming the protesters are accurate," said Ghassan el-Ezzi, professor of political science at the Lebanese University.

A hand grenade shook the Boulevard area of the northern port city of Tripoli at dawn Saturday, causing no material damage, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said that the grenade was tossed by unknown assailants near al-Baba building at 2:00 am. The blast did not cause any injuries or material damage, it added.

President Michel Suleiman reportedly is still holding onto the interior ministry portfolio as part of his share in the new government but could agree that a personality other than Ziad Baroud heads the ministry, media reports said Saturday.

An Nahar daily said that Suleiman won’t give up the portfolio “at all” but might not hold onto Baroud who headed the ministry in Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s cabinet.

U.S. President Barack Obama has extended the national emergency with respect to the actions of the Syrian government, saying that its support for Hizbullah and Hamas and meddling in Lebanon makes it a threat to national security.

Syria’s ongoing pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, support for anti-Israel groups and interference in Lebanon make it a "continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," said a White House statement.

Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud has said that the government is taking responsibility for removing all illegal construction on state property.

“The state institutions did their duties. This issue isn’t targeting the residents, but it is against those who are violating the public right,” Baroud told As Safir newspaper.

Tawhid movement leader Wiam Wahhab has apologized for the checks scandal that he raised two weeks ago and said he had the guts to say it out loud.

Those “who don’t have the guts to take a stance, don’t have the guts to apologize, and I have both,” Wahhab told Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5) on Saturday.

Fleeing violence in Syria, Umm Maher left her husband and six sons behind and crossed into northern Lebanon, where she now shares a single room with 12 other family members.

"At night we roll out these mattresses and I sleep next to my daughter, two daughters-in-law and nine grandchildren," says the 60-year-old, pointing at futons rolled up against the wall.

Internal Security Forces and army troops on Friday managed to put an end to construction violations around the Beirut airport which, according to Lebanese ministers, had posed a threat to the safety of civil aviation.

“An Internal Security Forces unit, backed up by army troops, has been carrying out a mission since today morning, which has led to curbing construction violations near the fence of the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport, after clashes with the violators,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Friday that the LF is the party of the cause and history and not the party of a person.

During the opening of the two-day congress that will discuss the LF by-laws, Geagea said: “The by-laws in our hands today took five years of intense work.”

Elham has been languishing in Lebanon's notorious Roumieh prison for more than a year, waiting to appear before a judge on charges of illegally entering the country from Iraq.

"We are packed like sardines and are left to rot while living like rats," said the Iraqi man, who requested that his real name be concealed.