Syndicate Coordination Committee's head Hanna Gharib was fired as a teacher at Mar Elias Btina College for having missed several classes since the beginning of the protests, LBCI television reported on Saturday.

"Gharib might lose hos job for missing teaching hours during his participation in the SCC protests,” LBCI said.

Two men wanted on several charges were wounded on Saturday in an exchange of gunfire with an army patrol in Bekaa's Baalbeck city, the state-run National News Agency reported.

“The gunfire exchange took place when the army was trying to arrest the suspects,” it detailed, noting that they are allegedly wanted in several cases, among them kidnapping incidents.

Syria's Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali stated on Saturday that he was not summoned by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on the backdrop of Friday's Syrian assault against Lebanese territories, assuring that his country is “the party negatively affected by the incident”.

“I have answered this question before. There is an ongoing cooperation between the two states,” Ali firmly said after meeting with FM Mansour.

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi handed over on Saturday the ISF leadership to Brig. Gen. Roger Salem, remarking that he was leaving his post with a "clear conscience."

The handing over of the post “comes as part of the law,” Rifi said at the graduation ceremony of expert officers held at the ISF general-directorate in Ashrafiyeh.

The director-general of Islamic Endowments slammed on Saturday what he said was a media campaign of lies by powerful politicians that there is a Hizbullah network at Dar al-Fatwa.

Sheikh Hisham Khalifeh said during a press conference that the rumors were causing divisions among Muslims.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora on Saturday met with President Michel Suleiman before traveling to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Saniora held talks with Suleiman at Baabda palace on Saturday morning. He then traveled to Riyadh at the head of a delegation from al-Mustaqbal movement.

Speaker Nabih Berri was discharged from American University of Beirut Medical Center after undergoing a minor surgery to remove a kidney stone, the hospital said Saturday.

“Speaker Berri has been admitted to the AUBMC and (ex-health minister) Dr. Mohammed Jawad Khalife conducted the surgery," the hospital said .

The Lebanese army said on Saturday that it arrested three gunmen for opening fire on a patrol after tossing a hand grenade in an area in the northern city of Tripoli.

“Three armed men riding a Mercedes in the area of Duwwar Abu Ali in Tripoli tossed a hand grenade and opened fire in an attempt to breach security and terrorize citizens,” said the communique issued by the army command.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged the authorities on Saturday not to allow arms smuggling and prevent the use of Lebanese territories as bases to attack Syria, warning against attempts to push Lebanon to a national crisis in search for a huge change that includes turning it into statelets.

“We urge the authorities to make sure that arms are not smuggled and that Lebanese territories are not used to transfer them to Syria or that its land is not used for bases of defense or attack,” Al-Rahi said in his Easter message.

Pope Francis reached out in friendship to "so many Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.

The new pontiff, who has rankled traditionalists by rejecting many trappings of his office, mostly stuck to the traditional script during the nighttime Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum, one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week.