Former prime minister Saad Hariri on Friday responded to Speaker Nabih Berri’s recent call for national dialogue, saying he welcomes “the principle of dialogue” but noting that it is “unacceptable” to turn dialogue over Hizbullah’s arms into dialogue over the latest unrest in Tripoli.

“We welcome the principle of dialogue and the call for dialogue; however, we remind that our permanent stance is: We were not the ones who withdrew from the national dialogue, and we demand its resumption on the bases that were agreed upon, and on the items that were included on its agenda,” said Hariri in a statement.

Colonel Riad al-Asaad, chief of the rebel Free Syrian Army, on Friday accused Arab Democratic Party official Rifaat Eid of “conspiring against the Lebanese state and inviting a foreign Arab army to occupy its North.”

“His remarks do not only disparage the Lebanese state’s prestige, but also the country’s dignity and the dignity of every Lebanese citizen, because Eid is neither a political analyst nor a media analyst, but rather the head of a licensed and armed Lebanese party,” said Asaad in a statement.

Some Lebanese areas near the Lebanese-Syrian border “have become an incubator for terrorist elements from the al-Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood organizations who are tampering with the security of Syria and its citizens,” Syria’s foreign ministry said in a statement addressed to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.

These elements “are seeking to undermine the six-point plan of U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan,” said the letter sent by Bashar al-Jaafari, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Security Council.

President Michel Suleiman urged officials on Friday to resort to dialogue in order to resolve any dispute or problem.

He expressed relief for the adopted measures in the northern city of Tripoli, hoping that the tranquil security situation would remain in the city.

A gunman was killed and a soldier wounded when the army intercepted a car loaded with weapons on Thursday, announced the Army Command in a statement on Friday.

It said that a shootout, which took place at the border region of al-Qaa, erupted when a car failed to halt at an army checkpoint.

The Military Tribunal rejected on Friday Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi’s request to be released from detention.

The request has been rejected by Military Examining Magistrate Nabil Wehbeh and Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr.

The whereabouts of the six militants who had escaped the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp remains unknown, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday.

It said that it is likely that they headed to the northern city of Tripoli before heading to Syria to take part in the revolt against the country’s ruling regime.

Speaker Nabih Berri said on Friday that his suggestion on resuming the national dialogue should focus on discussing the situation in the northern city of Tripoli, stressing that if needed, the dialogue could discuss other issues.

“The (suggested) national dialogue will not tackle the arms that are apparently widely spreading in various places” across Lebanon, Berri told As Safir.

Detained Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi denied the accusations against him that he belongs to the al-Qaida terrorist organization as his release is not expected to take place any time soon, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Friday.

Informed sources from the investigations with the detainee revealed that al-Mawlawi had also denied accusations that he had fought alongside the Free Syrian Army against the Syrian army.

President Michel Suleiman reiterated his readiness to sign the $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending in order to motivate the cabinet to approve the $3.12 billion draft that covers the expenses of the first half of 2012.

The president is optimistic that the financial crisis will end once the cabinet begins tackling the 2012 state budget, Suleiman’s visitors told An Nahar newspaper on Friday.