General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza has referred the arrest warrants issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to the central judicial department, to which he instructed the course of action to be taken in implementing the warrants.

He refused to uncover the specific measures he adopted, telling As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Saturday that these steps cannot be revealed.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon is currently assessing the policy statement of the Lebanese cabinet, urging Prime Minister Najib Miqati to announce his commitment to Security Council resolution 1757 that established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Ban’s acting deputy spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed to An Nahar newspaper on Saturday that the U.N. chief had contacted Miqati.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Maritime Task Force (MTF) and the Lebanese Navy conducted a day-long combined exercise on Thursday involving live-firing and other operational activities at sea.

Seven vessels, including three from the Lebanese Navy, participated.

The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) said Friday it has asked the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon for the names of those wanted for being involved in the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.

The STL on Thursday submitted to the Lebanese authorities a sealed indictment and arrest warrants in the case of the 2005 assassination of Hariri and his companions.

Around 150 Syrians fleeing unrest in their hometowns arrived Friday in north Lebanon via an illegal border crossing, a cleric working with the displaced told Agence France Presse.

Sheikh Mustafa Hammoud, imam of a mosque in the border village of Kneissi, said the Syrians -- mainly women, children and the elderly -- had made their way from the village of al-Qussair overnight for fear of fresh unrest after Friday Muslim prayers.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly voiced on Friday her country’s support to the movements of democracy in the region, adding that the U.S. is prepared to assist those who step up to solve the problems in Lebanon and the Middle East.

She said during a U.S. Embassy celebration of the U.S. Independence Day: “Independence is something that must be constantly renewed and refreshed to insure that whatever government is elected truly represents the legitimate will of the people it represents.”

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has welcomed the June 28 decision of STL’s pre-trial judge to confirm the indictment that he filed regarding the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

“The decision of the Pre-Trial Judge (Daniel Fransen) represents an important milestone as it is the first independent judicial review of the work of the Office of the Prosecutor,” the OTP said in a statement on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised on Thursday the release of the indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as an important milestone toward ending a period of impunity for political violence in Lebanon.

“The confirmation of the indictments by the pre-trial judge and their delivery by the Special Tribunal to the Lebanese authorities is an important milestone toward justice and ending a period of impunity for political violence in Lebanon,” Clinton said in a statement.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc said on Friday that the accusations issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the indictment in the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafik Hariri target the accused people and not their sects or parties.

MP Mohammed Kabbara, who read the bloc’s statement after a meeting it held in Qoreitem, said the STL clause in the policy statement means that the cabinet disavowed itself from its international commitments.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel announced Friday that a meeting for all concerned security apparatuses will be held Saturday to coordinate search operations for the suspects charged by a U.N.-backed court in connection with the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafik Hariri.

"We have to address this issue calmly and wisely to preserve the civil peace," Charbel told Agence France Presse.