Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday revealed that he has advised Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun against trying to eliminate President Michel Suleiman's role in the Lebanese political life.

"I told General Aoun when he approached me concerning his demand to get the interior portfolio (in the new cabinet) that there is a president who has played a good role and who cannot be eliminated," Jumblat said in an interview on LBC TV network.

Middle East Airlines announced on Thursday that it has prepared one of its planes to head to Libya on Friday once it receives permission from Libyan authorities to evacuate Lebanese citizens from the country.

The Lebanese foreign ministry is conducting the necessary contacts with friendly nations and the Lebanese mission in Libya in order to evacuate the citizens who have been trapped in Libya after the eruption of anti-regime protests.

President Michel Suleiman and Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday expressed hope that a new government in Lebanon would bring "longed-for stability to the country, as it faced major internal and international challenges", the Vatican said.

The pontiff and Suleiman during their half-hour meeting also "stressed the importance of involving religious and civil authorities to make people aware of peace and reconciliation," the Vatican said in a statement.

MP Marwan Hamadeh revealed on Thursday that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat was not under any threat when he voted for Najib Miqati to assume the position of prime minister-designate.

He told al-Balad French that Miqati is facing several hardships in the process of forming a new government, advising him to establish a technocratic Cabinet.

Lebanon First MP Oqab Saqr stressed on Thursday the need to establish an international tribunal to look into the case of Imam Moussa al-Sadr in light of claims that he was assassinated.

The popular revolts in the Arab world will stand as a lesson for Lebanon that dictatorship and a single governing party will have a worse end than that suffered by Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi and ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Saqr added.

Informed Syrian circles revealed on Thursday that a summit between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah may be held in Riyadh next week.

The Italian news agency AKI reported that should the meeting take place, it will be non-political, but it will be a congratulatory visit by Assad to the monarch after the latter’s recovery from his health setback.

Rear Admiral Luiz Henrique Caroli of Brazil assumed command of the Maritime Task Force (MTF), the naval component of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in a ceremony Thursday aboard a ship at Beirut Harbor.

The first Naval Force to be part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL-MTF has been deployed at the request of the Lebanese government to assist the Lebanese Navy to help prevent the unauthorized entry of arms or related materiel by sea into Lebanon. MTF has been working jointly with the Lebanese Navy to that end.

The task of Premier-designate Najib Miqati to form the new government has become more difficult as President Michel Suleiman continued to hold onto the interior ministry portfolio which Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is demanding as part of his share in the cabinet.

Speaker Nabih Berri’s sources told As Safir daily that the speaker stressed to Miqati during their meeting on Wednesday to speed up the government formation process. However, Miqati’s sources said no major progress was made in solving the deadlock over the interior ministry.

Head of the syndicate of gas station owners Sami Brax confirmed that stations will sell their reserves on Thursday but won’t provide consumers with gasoline the next day if the energy ministry fails to release the weekly update of prices.

“We will sell what’s left of gasoline at stations but there won’t be gasoline in the market starting tomorrow,” Brax told Voice of Lebanon, Voice of Freedom and Dignity, radio station.

The March 14 forces will reportedly announce their official stance not to participate in the new government in the next 48 hours, paving the way for Premier-designate Najib Miqati to form a one-sided cabinet.

Caretaker Labor Minister Butros Harb told An Nahar daily in remarks published Thursday that “nothing encourages (us) to participate in the cabinet particularly that the other team’s stance from the March 14 principles is not clear.”