BEIRUT: Lebanese officials offered mixed feelings as the celebrations for the 68th anniversary of Lebanon’s independence got under way Tuesday.

President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn and Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi all attended the 50-minute Independence Day military parade at Shafiq Wazzan Avenue in Downtown Beirut Tuesday morning.

Also present was Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer, who is in Lebanon on an official visit. Temer is of Lebanese origin.

A 21-gun salute was fired at the start of the parade after which Sleiman laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

A helicopter show greeted Sleiman's motorcade upon arrival. Infantry and navy commandos took part in the parade which ran without a hitch under a bright sun, a contrast to the heavy rain storms that hit the country last week.

At the end of the parade, Sleiman, Berri and Mikati headed to the presidential palace in suburban Baabda to receive well-wishers.

Israeli warplanes hovered at low altitude over Marjayoun, Bint Jbeil and the Tyre region in south Lebanon throughout the parade, a security source told The Daily Star.

Sleiman paid tribute to Independence Day on its eve, Monday night: “Yes for independence. Yes for coexistence. Yes for freedom and social justice,” he said in a televised speech.

Meanwhile, politicians from the opposition used the occasion to question Lebanon’s current sovereignty.

MP Ahmad Fatfat of former Prime Minister Saad Haririi's Future bloc said Lebanon did not enjoy true independence.

“Our independence is incomplete because some people try to violate Lebanon’s sovereignty” Fatfat said in an interview Tuesday with the Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Lawmakers from across the March 14 coalition of which Fatfat is part have vocally condemned recent cross-border incursions by the Syrian army into Lebanese territory.

Addressing Lebanese, Fatfat said: “We tell them that we must join ranks in order to achieve real independence by restoring Lebanon's sovereignty.”

Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea urged Lebanese to unite.

“Lebanon’s independence is entrusted in your own hands,” Geagea said in a statement issued Tuesday.

“Your [Lebanese] unity is the guarantee for the survival of Lebanon and so is your cooperation and harmony,” he said.

Geagea called on the rival Lebanese people to preserve their nation’s independence “by protecting one another ... and bridging the gap so that Lebanon will be sovereign and independent and remain a pioneer in democracy.”