Deputy Secretary of State William Burns completed his two-day visit to Lebanon on Friday and acknowledged Lebanon’s disassociation policy from the developments in Syria, said the U.S. Embassy in a statement.

He reiterated “U.S. interest in keeping Lebanon insulated from the violence in Syria.”

The military reinforcements to northern and northeastern Lebanon are underway with clear instructions to “respond to the source of fire,” the Lebanese army’s general command said Friday following several deadly incidents along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

“Based upon the decision of the cabinet on Monday, the army began upgrading its deployment in the area of the north starting with the city of Tripoli and its suburbs, all the away to the northeastern border,” the directorate said in a communique.

Security forces deployed heavily on Friday near Electricite du Liban’s headquarters in Mar Mikhael in Beirut in case the contract workers escalated their measures to protest the delay in their full-time employment and salaries payment.

Media reports said that the strict security boost near the company is plainly a “precautionary measure” to prevent the contract workers from forcing the shutting of the cash registers.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun expressed his keenness to the legacy of Lebanese philosopher and diplomat Charles Malek, a day after Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea accused the March 8 majority of seeking to transform the district of Koura where Malek was born into the territory of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“Charles Malek was of course a personality with influence in Koura’s history,” Aoun said. “But history has had different symbols at different stages.”

Security forces obtained the names of three men who are allegedly accomplices in the latest bank robberies across Lebanon, al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

The daily said that the suspects have been robbing the banks to obtain money to buy drugs.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati slammed on Friday the sides that have criticized the manner in which the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was funded, saying that their campaign “against me reflects their spite and lack of reason.”

He said in a statement: “The critics’ statements prove beyond a doubt that they do not seek justice or the truth in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.”

The cabinet is exerting efforts to resolve the appointments of top civil servants in state posts by filling the vacant positions on different stages, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.

“We will not appoint (the civil servants) in one package… We will appoint them on stages,” a minister told the daily.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader Fouad Saniora and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea coordinated their future stances following the assassination attempts against several March 14 alliance officials, An Nahar daily reported on Friday.

The newspaper said that Saniora and Geagea held a several hour meeting on the latest developments after the boycott of Christian blocs of a parliamentary session to protest the adoption of a draft-law on the employment of Electricite du Liban’s contract workers.

The White House has asked Iraq to review the case of a Hizbullah commander who was accused of masterminding a 2007 attack that killed five American soldiers or hand him over to the United States, a senior Obama administration official said Thursday, though two Iraqi courts have declared him not guilty.

The case is a tricky aftermath of the long U.S. military campaign in Iraq that ended last year and has elements of both Iraqi and U.S. internal politics.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday hoped the parliament “will practice its constitutional right in discussing the draft state budget and approving it as soon as possible,” noting that campaigns against the government “will not impede us.”

“The draft state budget does not include any new taxes that could have exhausted the Lebanese citizen during the current circumstances in Lebanon and the region,” Miqati reiterated during a cabinet session held at the Grand Serail.