March 2

• Sheikh Ahmad el-Assir completes his protest without any friction with Hezbollah or the security forces and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stresses: “We warned el-Assir that security disturbances are strictly prohibited.”
• Four men break into Mohammad Al-Amine Mosque in Downtown, Beirut, and interrupt the sermon of Sheikh Hisham Khalifeh, a scholar close to Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani.
• Inmates in the Roumieh prison detain a number of ISF members and release them later in what took the form of a rebellion.
• Cardinal Al-Rai announces from Russia that there is no harm in prolonging Parliament’s term for two or three months until the formulation of a consensual electoral law.
• The Syrian Northern Storm Brigade announces its readiness to release all 9 Lebanese detainees in return for the release of all women detainees from the prisons of the Syrian regime.
• Citizens block roads in Tripoli in protest of the dispute that erupted between the bodyguards of Sunni Sheikh Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal and the Lebanese Army in Tripoli when the latter confiscated the machinegun of one of the bodyguards.

March 4

• Municipal elections begin in 19 Lebanese towns including Qubayyat where the list backed by the Phalanges Party, the Free Patriotic Movement and MP Mikhael Daher defeated that supported by MP Hadi Houbeish and the Lebanese Forces.
• Minister Walid Terro and officials from the Amal Movement and Hezbollah rally in Saida to mark the anniversary of assassination of Maarouf Saad in the presence of his son Osama Saad who reiterated his rejection of all extremist movements.
• Sunni Sheikh Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal threatens to issue a jihad fatwa against all those who offend the Sunni.
• Private school teachers resume classes and decide to participate in the protests after school.

March 5

• The Prime Minister and the President of the Republic sign the decree calling on voters to participate in the upcoming polls on June 9.
• US ambassador to Lebanon, Maura Connelly, stresses following her meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri that the disagreement over the electoral law doesn’t imply postponement of elections.
• PM Najib Mikati reiterates on MTV his intention to run for elections, adding that he will resign before then to allow the formation of a government
• The monthly statement of the Maronite Bishops highlights the need for a new electoral law, warning that the return to the 1960s’ law is an evasion of responsibility.
• Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani insists on the elections of the Higher Islamic Council on April 14.

March 6

• Members of the Free Patriotic Movement, the Marada Party, the Amal Movement and Hezbollah convene in Parliament and reject the electoral decree calling for a June vote based on the 1960s’ law.
• A heated debate marks the Cabinet session over the electoral decree calling for a June vote.
• A GCC delegation chaired by the secretary general Abdul Latif Zayani hands President Suleiman a letter demanding Lebanon not to deviate from its disassociation policy.
• The Future Movement Bloc announces its commitment to holding the elections as scheduled and calls for the dismissal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Adnan Mansour.
• General Michel Aoun fires at President Suleiman and PM Mikati, stressing that the extension of Parliament’s term is not the only alternative in case the elections are postponed.
• Public sector employees stage a protest near the Presidential Palace in demand of pay scale referral to Parliament.

March 7

• After meeting Berri, MP Walid Jumblat assures that elections won’t be held without agreement over one electoral law, stressing that a formula combining between plurality and proportionality is under discussion.
• Speaker Nabih Berri expresses displeasure at the issuance of the electoral decree calling for vote.
• “Al-Taef Accord is to remain untouched and I won’t request election postponement,” says PM Najib Mikati.
• State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Sakr Sakr sentences Mahmoud Hayek, a Hezbollah member indicted in the attempt to assassinate MP Boutros Harb, to life in prison with hard labor.
• MP Walid Jumblat mourns the death of Syrian former army chief of staff Hikmat al- Shihabi.
• The request of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Adnan Mansour to reinstate Syria in the Arab League ignites a series of opposing reactions from anti-Assad Lebanese parties.

March 8

• During his meeting with a delegation from the Lebanese Editors’ Syndicate, President Suleiman assures that there is a 95% probability that elections will take place, but not according to the 1960s’ law.
• Fouad Seniora and Samir Geagea meet in Meerab to discuss a new electoral proposition.
• The PSP and the Future Movement continue their meetings in order to come up with a new electoral law based on both plurality (60%) and proportionality.
• After having denied it for a while, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Adnan Mansour admits to having received a letter from PM Najib Mikati regarding his call for the reinstatement of Syria in the Arab League.
• Minister of Interior and Municipalities announces that the candidacy period for the parliamentary elections will be open from March 11 until April 10.
• ISF Director General Ashraf Rifi meets at his barrack office with Milad Kfoury’s wife, Hiam Kfoury, and hands her a certificate of recognition as a token of appreciation to her husband’s crucial role in unveiling the Samaha plot. General Jamil Sayyed brands the move as juvenile.
• Sheikh Ahmad el-Assir stages a protest in front of Al-Bahaa mosque in Saida and warns of escalatory steps on Sunday.

March 11

• A Lebanese Economic Committees’ delegation chaired by Adnan El-Qassar arrives in KSA and meets with Prince Muqren Bin Abdul Aziz who assures that no Lebanese will be deported from the Kingdom. The delegation meets later with former PM Saad Hariri.
• Leftist forces including the Communist Party march from Barbir to Downtown, Beirut, in protest of the economic policies adopted by the government.
• Hanna Atiq launches the Lebanese Forces Corrective Movement, a movement opposing the policy of Samir Geagea, from Portemilio in Kaslik with the participation of Charles Malek and George Kassab.

March 12

• US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Lawrence Silverman and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Diplomacy arrive in Lebanon and meet Lebanese officials.
• No candidatures were applied for the parliamentary elections during the first day of the candidacy period, especially that aspiring applicants couldn’t register due to the participation of the Ministry of Finance’s workers in the strike.
• Armed clashes in Ain el-Helwi camp leave 1 dead and 7 injured.
• MP Walid Jumblat stresses in his weekly statement in Al-Anbaa that the work toward a consensual electoral law is under way.
• President Suleiman tells Reuters that the refugees have grown to form 25% of the Lebanese population and calls on the international community for help.

March 13

• President Suleiman leaves for Africa on top of a Lebanese delegation for a one-week tour to Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria.
• The Cabinet convenes at the Grand Serail and reiterates the government’s commitment to the self-dissociation policy.
• General Michel Aoun announces following the Change and Reform Bloc meeting that he’s against the extension of the current security leaders’ terms since the torch can be passed to other competent figures.
• Supporters of Sheikh El-Assir block streets in Tripoli and Beirut following the rumors suggesting that the army was out to arrest El-Assir.
• Minister Ghazi El-Aridi considers that Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has become a platform for the Syrian Ambassador.

March 14

• PM Najib Mikati meets his former Lebanese counterparts Salim Hoss, Omar Karami and Fouad Seniora to discuss the dispute of Dar el-Fatwa. The attendees refrain from urging the Grand Mufti to resign and give him the chance to call on the Higher Islamic Council to convene before Saturday.
• Supporters of Sheikh Ahmad El-Assir block the Saida-Jezzine road in protest of the measures taken by the Lebanese Army around Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque. El -Assir calls for a demonstration on Friday to lift what he describes as a siege on the Mosque.
• The Arab Democratic Party official Refaat Eid announces during a press conference that the Free Syrian Army leader Salim Edris is staying in Saad Hariri’s suite at the Quality Inn Hotel in Tripoli, adding that members of Al-Nussra Front are now in Lebanon.
• Lebanese churches ring their bells in celebration of the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the Catholic Church’s new Pope, Francis.
• President Michel Suleiman arrives in Senegal and signs 3 cooperation memorandums.

March 15

• President Michel Suleiman arrives in Ivory Coast on an official visit as part of his Africa tour.
• A statement issued by the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs threatens to raid what it calls the “sites of saboteurs” in Lebanon if the Lebanese government fails to act fast.
• PM Najib Mikati tells members of the Lebanese Editor’s Syndicate that the extension of Parliament’s term falls within the jurisdiction of Parliament, adding that there is no harm in prolonging the term of office of security leaders.
• General Michel Aoun states during a dinner held by the Free Patriotic Movement at the Habtour Hotel that the current phase is similar to that of the 1975, stressing that they have the power of weapons, politics and justice.
• Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji reiterates to Lebanese officers that the Lebanese Army is keen on preventing the spillovers of the regional conflicts into Lebanon, adding that the 1976 events shall not play out again.
• Diesel fuel tanks heading to Syria come under fire in El-Beddawi.
• Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani files a lawsuit against the Lebanese state for falsifying the decisions of the Higher Islamic Council.
• A Syrian truck overturns in the town of Kahaleh leaving 9 dead and 29 injured. The passengers were all Syrians fleeing Aleppo.
• The military judiciary takes legal action against Chadi al-Moulawi on charges of affiliation to Al-Nussra Front and refers him to the First Military Investigative Judge. Al-Moulawi assures that he will not appear in court.
• Herds of locust sweep over Lebanon.
• The Union Coordination Committee proceeds with the strike and stages a protest near the airport.
• Sheikh Ahmad el-Assir holds prayers in his mosque in Abra in the absence of the Lebanese Army.

March 18

• Maronite Patriarch al-Rai meets Speaker Berri and PM Mikati at the Maronite School in Rome, in the presence of Environment Minister Nazem Khoury and Lebanon’s ambassador to the Vatican Georges Khoury. The discussion covers the electoral law.
• A number of Shia’a attack 2 Sunni clerics affiliated with Dar el-Fatwa in Khandaq el-Ghameeq, thus igniting the anger of Sunni supporters who block roads and burn tires. Hezbollah and the Amal Movement deplore the incident and the Lebanese army arrests the assailants. Two other clerics face similar assaults in Majdal Anjar on their way to Beqa’a.
• March 14 Forces commemorate eighth anniversary in BIEL. The ceremony featured 14 speeches by March 14 allies and former PM Fouad Seniora stresses that the coalition will continue to defend freedom and independence.
• During a march held in Mukhtara in commemoration of the anniversary of the death of his father, MP Walid Jumblat warns that rough times are lying ahead and urges everyone to avoid the strife.
• President Michel Suleiman heads for Nigeria, the last stop on his Africa trip, and assures that no sectarian electoral law shall be passed under his watch.
• Hezbollah buries in Mays el-Jabl its member Hassan Shartouni who was killed in the fighting in Syria.

March 19

• Protesters continue their condemnation of the assault that targeted the Sunni clerics by blocking roads and burning tires in Verdun, Cola, Khaled and el-Neemeh.
• Maronite Patriarch al-Rai meets Speaker Berri and PM Mikati for the second time in Rome, in the presence of Environment Minister Nazem Khoury to continue their electoral law discussions. Mikati announces that the Patriarch will mediate among all Christian parties towards the approval of a new electoral law.
• The Lebanese town of Ersal comes under Syrian air raid.
• Grand Mufti receives the ministers of interior and defense and the general prosecutor in Dar el-Fatwa to contain the repercussions of the assault on Sunni clerics.

March 20

• The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies allegations that the Syrian aircrafts raided Ersal. President Suleiman deplores the attack and urges the Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs to file a complaint against Syria.
• A delegation of the Higher Shia’a Islamic Council visits Grand Mufti Qabbani and deplores the incident against the two Sunni clerics.
• Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Najib Mikati participate in the inauguration of Pope Francis I.

March 21

• President Suleiman returns from his Africa trip.
• The Cabinet convenes at the Grand Serail.
• Minor clashes in Tripoli leave 1 dead and 6 injured.
• The Military Public Prosecution appeals the decision of the investigative judge to abstain from Sheikh Ahmad el-Assir’s trial.
• Rockets launched from Syria fall in el-Qoussair and Sahlat el-May and sources hold the Syrian army responsible for the attack.
• The deputy head of the Higher Islamic Council Omar Mesqawi chairs a session at Bassam el-Barghout’s office urging the referral of the Sunni clerics’ incident to the Justice Council and slamming the Grand Mufti’s call for elections as illegal.
• “I won’t appear before court and all politicians owe me,” says Shadi Moulawi to An-Nahar.

March 22

• The Cabinet convenes at the Presidential Palace in Baabda and approves the pay scale amended with a 5% decrease. The session introduces new taxes to finance the scale.
• Syria hands the survivor of the Talkalakh incident, Hassan Srour, to Lebanon’s General Security.
• Renewed clashes in Tripoli result in 2 deaths and 24 injuries.

March 23

• Another Cabinet session concludes without agreeing over the extension of the ISF Director General’s term or the appointment of the Election Supervisory Committee members. PM Najib Mikati announces his resignation afterwards.
• Clashes continue in Tripoli claiming 6 lives and leaving 20 injured.
• Patriarch al-Rai receives all three Maronite leaders in Bkerke and resumes the discussions he began in Rome regarding the electoral law.
• MP Walid Jumblat reveals to LBC that what matters most is to protect the Intelligence Branch, not the preserve the tenure of Ashraf Rifi, urging Lebanese parties not to dramatize the situation.
• Former PM Saad Hariri calls Speaker Nabih Berry to explore prospective steps to prevent vacuum.

March 25

• The Al-Jaafar tribe replies to the abduction of its member Hassan Jaafar in Ersal by kidnapping 5 locals from the town.
• The deployment of the Lebanese Army in Jabal Mohsen in Tripoli brings the clashes to a halt.
• PM Najib Mikati submits his resignation in writing to the President of the Republic and announces that his decision to relinquish his position was a personal one, urging the formation of a rescue government and the return to dialogue.
• Attorney Samir Abi Lamaa elected as president of the Maronite League. Three among the candidates backed by Lamaa’s rival, Antoine Qlimos, make it to the executive council.
• “The reasons for Mikati’s resignation are trivial,” says General Michel Aoun.
• “The 1960s’ electoral law is still standing and Mikati’s resignation is an introduction to dialogue resumption”, reports former PM Fouad Seniora.
• The number of the Syrians registered as refugees at the UNHCR hits 375 000. Another 135 000 still await registration.
• “Mikati resigned to prevent a void in a security position but ended up dragging the whole country into vacuum,” says MP Mohammad Raad.
• Nabatieh’s governmental hospital named after Speaker Nabih Berri.

March 27

• Speaker Nabih Berri holds meetings with Minister Jobran Bassil, MP George Adwan and MP Sami Gemayyel.
• President Michel Suleiman participates in the Arab League summit in Doha and reiterates Lebanon’s complete dissociation from the conflict in Syria. Suleiman meets a number of his Arab counterparts on the sidelines of the summit.
• “I am running for premiership, but I will not preside over a government of one color,” assures former PM Najib Mikati.
• Families of the Lebanese abducted in Syria renew action by staging a protest in front of the Justice Palace in Beirut.

March 28

• A March-14 parliamentary delegation visits Speaker Nabih Berri and hands him a petition signed by 69 MPs and urging an immediate session to raise the retirement age of security commanders.
• Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani holds Hariri and Seniora responsible for any harm he may suffer.
• Tripoli’s Mufti, Sheikh Malek Shaar, tells As-Safir from France that Sheikh Ahmad Al-Assir is a residue of Hezbollah’s practices, stressing that he is an eccentric phenomenon.

March 29

• The Presidency of the Republic schedules the binding parliamentary consultations to name a prime minister on April 5 and 6.
• Minister of Energy and Water Jobran Bassil reveals that 52 international companies proposed to perform oil and gas excavation in Lebanon’s waters.
• The Shura Council issues a decision suspending the Grand Mufti’s decision to hold the elections of the Higher Islamic Council’s on April 14, 2013. Dar Al-Fatwa fires back saying that the Shura Council has no authority over the Mufti’s decisions.
• Hussein Jaafar calls his family and informs them that the ransom demanded in return for his freedom is USD 1 million. Consequently, the Jaafars let go of three of the Ersal inhabitants they had abducted.
• US Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly visits former PM Najib Mikati, Speaker Nabih Berri and General Ashraf Rifi. The US Embassy’s statement underlines the right of the Lebanese people to a government capable of meeting their needs.