A request by Free Patriotic Movement cabinet ministers to task the army with controlling the security in the North and put the Internal Security Forces under its command was rejected by ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, media reports said Thursday.

Several Beirut dailies quoted sources as saying that the FPM ministers called during the session held at Baabda palace for the implementation of article four of the defense law similar to the measures taken in the eastern Bekaa valley to strike with an iron fist any attempt to tamper with the security of the northern province of Akkar.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Tuesday that he will continue on assuming his responsibilities.

He said before reporters in the northern city of Tripoli: “There are no problems in referring Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and Mohammed Mereb’s murders to the judicial council.”

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Tuesday that Lebanon would not yield to internal and external pressure to change its policy of dissociating itself form the Syrian crisis.

In remarks to Ad-Diyar newspaper, Berri expressed regret that four Gulf countries have advised their citizens not to travel to Lebanon, hoping that such a decision was not part of the pressure exerted on Lebanese officials to change their policies towards Syria.

The March 14 opposition coalition is planning to hold a large-scale meeting in an effort to end “the dictates of the Syrian regime” following deadly clashes that have left several people dead in Beirut and the northern port city of Tripoli.

Contacts have been made between the March 14 leaderships since the latest incidents erupted, An Nahar daily reported Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour held talks on Tuesday with diplomats of three Gulf countries that have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon in his ongoing effort to persuade them to review their decisions.

The current security tension in Lebanon is provisional and does not require such decisions, Mansour reportedly told the ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Monday snapped back at Beirut’s MPs over their call for him to resign, noting that he is trying to “douse the fire ignited by some Mustaqbal Movement MPs through their fiery, irresponsible stances.”

“The call for the government’s resignation has become present in all the statements and remarks of the Mustaqbal MPs, which reflects a deep desire to regain what they consider an undisputable right,” Miqati’s office said in a statement.

Beirut MPs commended on Monday the clashes that erupted in the city on Sunday, accusing some powers and military agencies that are affiliated with the Syrian regime of seeking to create instability in Lebanon.

They said after an extraordinary meeting at the Center House: “We demand Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s resignation because his government is facilitating the return of the civil war.”

Two Syrian nationals were kidnapped on Monday on the Beirut airport road as the abductors demanded the family to pay a $5,000 ransom in exchange for their release.

The National News Agency reported that Abdul Baset Dallah and Abdo Dallah informed the Ozai police station that their nephews Attef Dallah, 25, and his brother Abdul Latif, 40, were kidnapped.

Bahraini rights activist Nabeel Rajab, a leader of protests against authorities in the Gulf kingdom, has been arrested on his return from a trip abroad, the Interior Ministry and activists said on Sunday.

Rajab, who heads the non-governmental Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was arrested at the airport late on Saturday over charges of "participating in illegal assembly and calling others to join," the center said in a statement.

Former PM Saad Hariri advised the Lebanese on Saturday not to give up on their country, a day before his scheduled appearance on a giant TV screen during a rally in support of the Syrian people.

“Don't give up on Lebanon. It's your country fight for it peacefully,” the al-Mustaqbal movement leader said on his twitter feed.