The army deployed heavily on Tuesday in the northern city of Tripoli as it started implementing a security plan established by the government to end violence in the area, as President Michel Suleiman urged officials to deal firmly with all who violate the peace.

Army units began deploying heavily since 6:00 a.m. in al-Qobbeh area and Jabal Mohsen.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday urged the army and the security forces to be firm in drawing an end to the “abnormal situation” in the northern city of Tripoli, praising also civil society's efforts to restore stability in the North.

"The state and the security and military bodies' firmness is required now more than ever to draw an end to the abnormal situation in Tripoli, because of which many innocent people have been killed,” Jumblat said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr issued around two hundred arrest and search and investigation warrants against suspects who had breached security across Lebanon.

According to the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday, Saqr issued 200 arrest and search and investigation warrants last week against 200 criminals from the northern city of Tripoli, the city of Bekaa and Beirut.

Interior Minister Nuhad al-Mashnouq has said that a security plan for the northern city of Tripoli approved by the cabinet last week will be implemented in the coming few days.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper published Monday, al-Mashnouq said the deployment of security forces in some of the city's neighborhoods in the past few days comes as a prelude to the plan which will be implemented within 48 hours.

An improvised explosive device was dismantled Sunday near an army post on al-Mitain Street in the northern city of Tripoli.

“Lebanese Army units managed to defuse a hand-made and armed explosive device that was placed near the municipal stadium and a Lebanese Army post in Tripoli's al-Mitain Street,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi expressed deep grief on Sunday over suicide attack that targeted an army checkpoint in the eastern border town of Arsal, calling on the state to put an end to impunity for the offenders.

“We are saddened by the assault against the people of the (northern city of) Tripoli and the Lebanese army in the Bekaa,” al-Rahi said during his sermon at Our Lady of Lebanon basilica in Harissa.

The technical and logistic preparations of the security plan for the northern city of Tripoli are underway ahead of its imminent implementation.

An Nahar daily reported that the plan will take effect in two days.

An Internal Security Forces member was killed in the northern city of Tripoli on Friday, in the second such attack on armed forces in two days, the state-run National News Agency reported, as the army started pursuing suspected perpetrators.

NNA said Butros al-Bayaa was in his Range Rover when armed men opened fire on him in the area of al-Qobbeh at around 5:30 am.

President Michel Suleiman urged on Friday the Lebanese Armed Forces to confront terrorists and criminals no matter how much sacrifices they make.

In a statement issued by Baabda Palace, Suleiman said: “All terrorist activities that target the members of the army and police won't stop those forces from implementing the decision of the government to preserve security and stability.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Friday that partnership between the legislative and executive authorities was necessary to confront major political events.

Following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh, Salam said: “We are living in difficult circumstances … which require continuous consultations.”