Army units continued their deployment in the northern city of Tripoli on Friday as they requested the residents to cooperate with them in informing them of any suspicious activity in the area.

The Army Command had described the last round of fighting on Thursday night as the worst the city had seen in years.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel voiced on Friday his opposition to the postponement of the parliamentary elections “regardless of the excuse," reported Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

He said after holding talks with Speaker Nabih Berri: “We support the resumption of parliamentary committee meetings as soon as possible in order to approve a fair electoral law.”

Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan urged Lebanese officials on Friday to adopt proportional representation, saying the 1960 electoral law based on a winner-takes-all system leads to strife.

“The 1960 law is a law of strife. It keeps the Lebanese people under hegemony,” Arslan said at a press conference he held at his residence in Khalde.

The families of Lebanese pilgrims, who were kidnapped in May in Syria, briefly blocked on Friday the road near the Interior Ministry in Beirut's Hamra thoroughfare.

Protesters demanded authorities to swiftly resolve the matter, warning of further endeavors until the 9 remaining men are released.

Al-Mustaqbal movement described on Friday Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat's initiative to resolve the country's political crisis as “positive,” reiterating demands that the cabinet steps down.

“The resignation of the cabinet is the solution to defuse the tension in the country,” head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora said in a statement.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati called for a meeting of the Higher Defense Council in Baabda on Sunday to discuss the security situation in the northern city of Tripoli following consultations with President Michel Suleiman.

Following a telephone conversation with Suleiman, who is in Greece, and “in his capacity as deputy head of the Higher Defense Council, PM Miqati decided to call for a meeting at 10:00 am Sunday at the presidential palace in Baabda,” said a statement issued by the premier's office.

Syrian authorities will hand over to Lebanon's General Security on Saturday the bodies of five armed men who were killed in an ambush in the Syrian town of Tall Kalakh, As Safir newspaper reported.

According to the daily, the remaining 9 bodies will be handed over in two batches.

Speaker Nabih Berri said Friday he was calling for a dialogue among Lebanon's bickering officials to resolve the gap that widened between the March 8 majority alliance and the March 14 opposition coalition in the aftermath of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan.

Berri told al-Akhbar newspaper published on Friday that his call for dialogue is aimed at resolving the country's political crisis that erupted after the killing of al-Hasan in a car bomb explosion in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district.

Head of the Economic Committees Adnan Kassar announced on Friday that the committees will hold a meeting in the presence of several ministers to discuss some solutions that would steer the country's economic problems after media reports said the cabinet reached a settlement concerning the new wage scale for public employees.

Kassar said after holding talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail that the meeting will be held on Sunday, stressing that “it's not acceptable to tamper with the country's economy during this delicate situation.”

The General Prosecution hasn't been handed copies of recordings that al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Oqab Saqr claimed he sent to Judge Hatem Madi's office, high-ranking judicial sources said Friday.

The sources told An Nahar daily that General Prosecutor Madi hasn't received the three-part series of the recordings in which the lawmaker allegedly discussed arrangements with a Syrian rebel to ship arms supplies to the opposition.