Columns of Lebanese army tanks and personnel carriers deployed in the towns of Hnaider and Knaisseh on the northern and northeastern border with Syria in an effort to curb arms smuggling, eyewitnesses said.

TV footage showed the residents of the Wadi Khaled area welcoming the army’s deployment.

The Audit Bureau’s acting general prosecutor, Judge Bassam Wehbe, said Friday that the names of persons involved in the red diesel scandal will be announced within two days.

Wehbe said the final report on the probe carried out by the Bureau will be issued within two days and it will include the names of the people who took part in the sale of millions of liters of red diesel to distribution companies the last hours before the end of a one-month government subsidy.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi backed on Friday the unification of Cyprus and said his visit to the island state was aimed at consolidating ties with its Maronite citizens.

During a meeting with the Cypriot president, Demetris Christofias, on a several day visit, al-Rahi said he discussed with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon in October about the unification of Cyprus.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati reiterated that cabinet sessions will remain suspended unless he receives promises from ministers that they will be productive, demanding those who don’t want to abide by the government’s decisions to resign.

“I have set a basic rule: you either implement the cabinet’s decisions or if you don’t want to abide by them resign,” Miqati told the pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat on Friday.

France is aware of the pressure exerted on Premier Najib Miqati which he is courageously confronting, Lebanese diplomatic sources in Paris said on Friday.

In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on the occasion of Miqati’s official visit to Paris, the sources said that France shares with the PM his concerns on the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon.

The bickering between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun didn’t go unnoticed during St. Maroun Day on Thursday after Aoun violated the protocol and entered the St. George Cathedral after the head of state.

Media reports said Friday that several officials were frustrated when Aoun delayed his entry to the cathedral to attend a mass celebrated by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Three bombs exploded in Bab al-Tebbaneh region in Tripoli Thursday night marking an increased tension with Jabal Mohsen in the past few days.

“Three bombs exploded in Bab el Tebbaneh” MTV reported.

An Israeli task force composed of twenty soldiers supported by four military vehicles entered 75 meters into the disputed area near Adaysseh and erected barbed wires.

The UNIFIL and the Lebanese security services arrived at the scene, and the Lebanese army launched a probe into the incident.

Two Syrian nationals were badly wounded on Thursday by a landmine at the illegal border-crossing of al-Buni in northern Lebanon, reported the National News Agency.

Ahmed Mustapha Khodr and Ahmad Abdul Karim were injured while attempting to cross the border into Wadi Khaled from the Syrian town of al-Mushayrfeh.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi reiterated on the occasion of St. Maroun Day on Thursday his call for the adoption of a new social pact to renew the national pact of 1943.

During a sermon at the St. George Cathedral in downtown Beirut, al-Rahi said the new pact would be based on mutual respect, equality and cooperation that would neutralize Lebanon and steer it clear of regional and international axes.