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.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea reiterated calls to form a “neutral” cabinet to supervise the upcoming parliamentary elections, and to choose a new premier who is not a candidate for the polls, the As-Safir daily reported on Saturday.

“Holding the parliamentary elections is a prime target even if technical reasons led to some delay. We want a cabinet of elections, and it cannot be but a neutral one that includes technocrat ministers specialized in addressing the economic and living situation,” said Geagea in an interview with the daily.

The March 14 opposition alliance is seeking the formation of a neutral cabinet to oversee the elections while the March 8 majority alliance led by Hizbullah is after a national unity government, two stances that are likely to worsen the country’s political crisis.

A high-ranking March 14 official told An Nahar daily published Saturday that the opposition wants a new neutral cabinet capable of supervising the polls that should be held “as soon as possible” if there was a need for a technical postponement.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has said that he would suggest a technical postponement of the parliamentary elections for three months amid a deadlock on the new cabinet and the vote law.

In remarks to al-Liwaa daily published on Saturday, Charbel said his proposal “would give the consultations aimed at reaching consensus on the electoral law and the government” more time.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday underwent a “successful surgery” at the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Hamra.

“Speaker Berri has been admitted to the American University of Beirut Medical Center and (ex-health minister) Dr. Mohammed Jawad Khalife is conducting an urgent surgery on him," al-Jadeed television reported.

Amer Arish, the so-called “commander of al-Beddawi frontier” in Tripoli, was wounded on Friday in a failed assassination attempt.

Unidentified attackers opened fire and hurled a hand grenade on Arish outside his shop in al-Beddawi, state-run National News Agency reported.

Three shells launched from the Syrian side of the border on Friday landed in the northern Akkar town of al-Noura, affecting power lines in the region, the state-run National News Agency reported.

"The shells damaged the high-voltage power line and wounded a number of animals,” the NNA detailed.

Israeli warplanes staged intense mock raids at medium altitude over southern Lebanon on Friday morning, as an AWACS aircraft remarkably overflew the Nabatiyeh and the southern coast areas in the afternoon, state-run National News Agency reported.

In the evening, Israeli warplanes violated the Lebanese airspace at medium altitude over the southern areas of Nabatiyeh, Iqlim al-Tuffah, Khiyam, Marjeyoun and al-Orqoub.

Israel expected on Friday that the next war with Hizbullah will be completely different than the July 2006 conflict.

Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command Chief Major General Eyal Eisenberg warned that the next war with the party will be ten times fiercer than the 2006 one.