The United State has expressed deep concern over the violence in the northern city of Tripoli and the kidnappings spree of Syrian and Turkish nationals across Lebanon.

“We are very concerned about this violence and the spillover effect from what’s going on in Syria, and particularly the latest violence in Tripoli,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed anger on Wednesday over the chaotic situation in Lebanon, stressing that the airport road is a “red line,” local newspapers reported.

“The hand of whoever blocks the airport road will be cut,” Berri told As Safir newspaper.

The Islamic personalities of the northern city of Tripoli announced on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached with the residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh to implement an immediate ceasefire in the clashes that had been raging with the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood since Monday.

MP Mohammed Kabbara also condemned after the meeting the “army’s random gunshots at some innocents.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Tuesday the Syrian regime’s plans to issue arrest warrants against various Lebanese figures, deeming such a step as “laughable.”

He said before an emigrant delegation at his Maarab residence: “The regime is not aware that it is no longer a state. We don’t consider it to be a state.”

Head of the Free Syrian Army Colonel Riad al-Asaad accused on Tuesday the Syrian regime of being behind the claim that a member of al-Meqdad clan is being held captive by the FSA.

He said: “This is one of the regime’s games to create strife and instability in Lebanon.”

Speaker Nabih Berri lamented on Tuesday the current state of affairs in Lebanon, slamming the “kidnappings, sniper activity, blocking of roads, and clan military wings.”

He asked in a statement: “Where is the role of the political authorities and parties regarding the latest developments?”

President Michel Suleiman condemned on Tuesday the series of kidnappings that have taken place in Lebanon in recent days, saying that the retaliatory abductions will not help ensure the release of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims.

He demanded that the judicial authorities “take immediate actions” and issue arrest warrants against the perpetrators, who have kidnapped Syrian and Turkish nationals in Lebanon.

The opposition Syrian National Council on Tuesday accused the Lebanese authorities of failing to act over a wave of kidnappings and arrests of Syrians in Lebanon and accused some political parties of complicity.

"Syrians in Lebanon have been abducted by political parties, and subject to arbitrary arrests by security agents, without the authorities so much as lifting a finger," the SNC said, implicitly blaming Hizbullah which is closely allied with the Damascus regime.

Economy and Trade Minister Nicolas Nahhas said on Tuesday that the government’s approval of the new wages scale for public teachers isn’t “easy.”

“I understand the warnings issued by the Syndicate Coordination Committee but the matter isn’t easy as it will radically affect the economy of Lebanon,” Nahhas told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

At least four people were killed and dozens others wounded, including an army officer and four troops, as clashes and sniper fire renewed on Tuesday in the rival Tripoli districts of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh.

"The clashes are continuing," an army spokesman said in the early evening, while the military said in a statement that soldiers were "chasing gunmen and have seized a quantity of guns, bombs and ammunition."