Opposition MP Butros Harb considered on Friday the photo that As Safir newspaper published on its front page as “evidence of the campaign staged by the March 8 forces on the March 14 coalition” over U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman’s visit to Beirut.

He mocked what he called a “caricature picturing him as bowing to Feltman,” noting that he was “welcoming the guest and directing him to his seat.”

Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wu Zexian stressed on Friday the arms of Hizbullah are a Lebanese affair that “no one has the right to interfere in.”

“The Lebanese have to launch a dialogue concerning the matter in order to reach consensus,” Zexian told al-Akhbar newspaper in an interview.

March 14 opposition official Fares Soaid said Friday that the main objective of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman’s visit to Beirut was to inform Lebanese officials that allowing Iran to increase its influence in Lebanon after the fall of the Syrian regime would cause a standoff between Beirut and the international community.

In remarks to An Nahar newspaper, Soaid, who is the March 14 general-secretariat coordinator, said: “The U.S. and Iran are convinced that the Syrian regime is nearing its end but neither Washington nor Tehran have an interest in announcing this regime’s burial” yet.

Extremists headed from Lebanon to Syria in the past few months to carry out more bombings and suicide attacks aimed at shaking the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

Around five experts trained in preparing explosives left a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon heading to Syria, Islamist sources told the daily.

Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri lashed back at the head of the Syrian mission, Ali Abdul Karim Ali, for accusing Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries of arming the Syrian rebels and being responsible for the Syria-destined weapons shipment recently intercepted by Lebanese army.

“With all the respect I have for my colleague ambassador Ali Abdul Karim, I am surprised by his hasty statements in which he accused (Gulf) countries without any evidence,” the Saudi ambassador said in a statement.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati postponed Thursday’s cabinet session at Baabda Palace to avoid a showdown between the bickering parties over the $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending of 2011, sources said.

The sources told An Nahar daily published Friday that Miqati’s decision came against the backdrop of disputes between Hizbullah, Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement on one side and the centrists on the other on how to legalize the spending.

Israeli troops on Thursday crossed the Blue Line while constructing the border wall that they started building on April 30, reported the National News Agency.

It said that the forces crossed 65 centimeters into Lebanese territory near Kfar Kila as they were attempting to expand the border wall beyond the measurements that had been agreed upon.

The Musatqbal bloc hailed on Thursday the security forces for their interception on Friday of a ship that was smuggling weapons to Syria.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “We hope that the interception of the ship would pave the way to the confiscation of weapons that are being smuggling into Lebanon through various crossings.”

Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed on Thursday that the resistance will maintain its policies and current line of action, announced the party in a statement.

He said after holding talks with visiting Iranian Vice President Mohammed Reza Rahimi: “The resistance is capable of confronting all upcoming challenges.”

Iranian Vice President Mohammed Reza Rahimi voiced on Thursday his country’s readiness to establish cooperation agreements between the Islamic republic and Lebanon.

He said after holding talks with President Michel Suleiman: “Iran is completely committed to supporting Lebanon.”