Speaker Nabih Berri has rejected throwing the ball in his court over the crisis on the constitutionality of a parliamentary session, saying he had reached an agreement with caretaker Premier Najib Miqati to resolve the problem.

In remarks to An Nahar newspaper published Sunday, Berri said it was wrong to throw the ball in his court after reports emerged that President Michel Suleiman and Miqati had reached a deal and were waiting for his approval.

Deputy head of the Higher Islamic Council Omar Mesqawi stated on Saturday that disarming the country's organizations “is the only way to get out of the current political situation in Lebanon.”

“Getting out of the current political situation can only be achieved through disarming factions and organizations that possess illegal weapons and that were created in the midst of chaos,” Mesqawi said after an extraordinary meeting of the HIC held in the southern city of Sidon, following June's clashes between armed supporters of Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir and the military institution.

The Army Command announced on Saturday detaining several soldiers for attacking an arrested man involved in last June's clashes against the military institution in the southern city of Sidon.

"After viewing a video spread online that shows a number of soldiers beating and insulting a detainee, the military institution has arrested several troops involved in the incident,” the Army Command's Orientation Directorate said in a communique.

Mustaqbal MP Bahia Hariri stressed on Saturday the people's right to turn to the judiciary in order to apprehend assailants involved in the recent clashes in the southern city of Sidon.

She declared from the northern city of Tripoli: “We will not relinquish our right to find out the whole truth in the unrest.”

Saudi banks expressed on Saturday readiness to cooperate with security agencies and hand over the bank accounts and transactions of the people affiliated with Hizbullah.

The Gulf Cooperation Council officials had met in Riyadh on Thursday to coordinate sanctions in the six member states against Hizbullah over its support for the Syria regime.

The parents of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir stressed on Saturday that their son has been a staunch supporter of the Lebanese army, considering that he survived an assassination bid.

“Whatever I said no one will listen to us after he (al-Asir) was accused of killing army officers,” the mother of al-Asir, who remained unnamed, told An Nahar newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted that the Egyptian people were right in adopting democracy last year because it helped lead to the overthrow of the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, reported the daily An Nahar Saturday.

He predicted: “The democratic change in Egypt will spread to the rest of the Arab world and even Turkey.”

The dispute over the legality of holding a parliamentary session in the presence of a caretaker government has persisted amid claims that the Mustaqbal bloc and its March 14 allies may take part in it exchange for certain demands linked to the formation of a new cabinet, reported As Safir newspaper Saturday.

Widely informed sources told the daily that the bloc is also seeking to propose extending the term of retired Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi in exchange of attending an extraordinary parliament session.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat described on Saturday the current political situation as “unsound,” stressing that the only way to resolve disputes is by dialogue.

Sources close to Jumblat expressed the Druze leader's annoyance that a certain party decided to boycott the recent parliamentary session that Speaker Nabih Berri called for, in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Islamist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, on the run since the Abra battle, has likely appeared in an audio and not a video recording due to the fact that he had to change his physical appearance in order to be able to flee the military crackdown, reports said on Friday.

LBCI television said Asir's wife Amal and some of the clerics relatives and close aides in Sidon have confirmed the authenticity of the audio message.