Internal Security Forces and army troops on Friday managed to put an end to construction violations around the Beirut airport which, according to Lebanese ministers, had posed a threat to the safety of civil aviation.

“An Internal Security Forces unit, backed up by army troops, has been carrying out a mission since today morning, which has led to curbing construction violations near the fence of the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport, after clashes with the violators,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Friday that the LF is the party of the cause and history and not the party of a person.

During the opening of the two-day congress that will discuss the LF by-laws, Geagea said: “The by-laws in our hands today took five years of intense work.”

Elham has been languishing in Lebanon's notorious Roumieh prison for more than a year, waiting to appear before a judge on charges of illegally entering the country from Iraq.

"We are packed like sardines and are left to rot while living like rats," said the Iraqi man, who requested that his real name be concealed.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Friday called for speeding up the cabinet formation process ahead of his visit to the Vatican to participate in the beatification ceremony of Pope John Paul II.

“We should speed up the government formation process to regain Lebanon’s role as a message,” al-Rahi told reporters at Beirut airport before heading to Rome.

President Michel Suleiman and Premier-designate Najib Miqati have reportedly reached a tacit agreement for the head of state to drop his demand for the interior ministry portfolio as part of his share in the new cabinet.

An Nahar daily said Friday that Miqati visited Baabda palace the day before to discuss with Suleiman the government deadlock that mainly rose because of the bickering between the president and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun over the portfolio.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said that Damascus encourages all Lebanese sides to make concessions to end the political vacuum that is “wearing the country away.”

“It is not true that Damascus has no interest in forming the government,” As Safir newspaper quoted him as saying in remarks published Friday. On the contrary, Jumblat said that he heard Syrian encouragement for all Lebanese sides to make concessions and form the government.

President Michel Suleiman and Premier-designate Najib Miqati have reportedly held telephone conversations with Syrian President Bashar Assad lately.

Well-informed sources told As Safir newspaper in remarks published Friday that Suleiman and Assad discussed the latest developments in Syria.

Two Inerga-type rockets exploded in sensitive neighborhoods of Tripoli Thursday that have previously been the scene of clashes between Alawite and Sunnis, a security official said.

One rocket exploded on a street in the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood, near a school, mainly inhabited by Alawites that back the embattled Syrian regime.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is scheduled to travel to Rome on Friday to attend the beatification ceremony of Pope John Paul II, which will be held on Sunday at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

The patriarch is set to hold talks with a number of Italian officials on his visit including President Giorgio Napolitano and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini revealed on Thursday that his country agreed with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to propose imposing strict sanctions against Syrian military and intelligence officials responsible for the violence against Syrian protestors.

He said that the proposal will be made before the European Union.