Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri voiced his support for Syria's uprising and urged Muslims in several countries, including Lebanon, to come to the aid of Syrian rebels confronting President Bashar Assad's forces.

"I appeal to every Muslim and every free, honorable one in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon, to rise to help his brothers in Syria with all that he can," Zawahiri said in a new video message released on jihadist Internet forums, U.S. monitors SITE Intelligence said on Sunday.

A cautious calm prevailed in the northern port city of Tripoli on Sunday after two days of heavy gunbattles between two neighborhoods left at least three people dead and 23 injured.

Media reports said there was no breach of the ceasefire that was reached on Saturday between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh, which is Sunni, and the dominant Alawite Jabal Mohsen.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has reportedly asked Premier Najib Miqati that Lebanon not reject a proposal made by his country to form a "Friends of Syria" group.

During a meeting they held in Paris on Friday, Juppe said Lebanon shouldn’t reject the idea during the meeting of Arab League foreign ministers that will be held in Cairo on Sunday, French official sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour rejected to be a false witness in the meetings of Arab foreign ministers, warning that Lebanon would be harmed if Syria was engulfed by fire.

In an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Rai daily published Sunday, Mansour said: “If we have remarks then we will say them boldly particularly if that decision would threaten the security and stability of Syria.”

Four gunmen intercepted on Saturday a car that entered Lebanon through the border and kidnapped three Syrian nationals in the Bekaa town of Taanayel, according to the National News Agency.

The Syrian nationals were traveling in a Jeep Mazda holding a Syrian license plate when four masked, armed men forcibly removed them from the car and kidnapped them to an unknown area.

A ceasefire was announced on Saturday between the rival Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen under the army’s sponsorship after fierce clashes killed and wounded a number of civilians and troops.

The Lebanese army is deployed on the outskirts of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh, namely near Syria Street which separates the rival neighborhoods.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati visited on Saturday ex-PM Saad Hariri to inquire about his health after undergoing surgery recently.

Miqati who headed on Thursday to France on a two-day official visit to meet with top French officials, met with Hariri following treatment from a skiing accident he had in the French Alps in January.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati expressed confidence on Saturday that the army will be able to restore order in the northern coastal city of Tripoli, Praising the Lebanese-French bilateral relation after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe.

“The Lebanese army will be able to play its role; we have confidence in its leadership. I contacted army commander General Jean Qahwaji and I am confident that the army will restore order (in Tripoli),” Miqati told reporters in the French capital Paris.

President Michel Suleiman called for firm measures against any security breach, noting that the strong political rhetoric is causing political, security, and economic instabilities, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

“The strong political rhetoric and the failure to act responsibly and to abide by the constitution according to the Taif accord are the reasons behind the political, security and economic instabilities,” Suleiman stressed.

Phalange Party Amin Gemayel praised on Saturday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s trip to France, saying that “this is the image of Lebanon we want to promote abroad, not that of infighting.”

He said in a statement: “The Tripoli unrest is linked to external affairs and it has nothing to do with Lebanon.”