Three gunmen were killed overnight when the Lebanese army thwarted an attempt by militants to infiltrate an area on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal.

The state-run National News Agency said Friday that one of the dead jihadists is a Syrian member of the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.

With just blankets to shield them against the icy wind and rain, Abu Ali's family huddles in a flimsy tent in Lebanon -- among the thousands of Syrian refugees struggling as winter sets in.

Sixty-year-old Abu Ali is now relatively safe after fleeing the threat of Islamic State group jihadists in northern Syria's Raqa province, but some of his 14 children are already coughing badly.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi reportedly blesses any meeting that would gather Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea to bridge the gap.

“We don't oppose the election of Aoun as a president... I support him, but he has to head to the parliament and convince lawmakers of voting for him,” al-Rahi was quoted as saying by sources in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Friday.

Hizbullah has detained a senior party official it accused of spying for Israel and "sabotaging security operations" abroad, a source close to the movement said on Thursday.

"Three months ago, Hizbullah's security apparatus detained a man named Mohammad Shawraba, who is a collaborator in its ranks," said the source, who spoke to Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

The son of Sheikh Mustafa al-Hujeiri, Baraa, was released by the judiciary overnight, media reports said on Thursday.

His release was met with signs of jubilation in the northeastern border town of Arsal where he hails from.

Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut Elias Audeh called on Thursday politicians to give up their narrow interests to safeguard the country, pointing out that the Lebanese are divided instead of exerting efforts to unite to avert dangers surrounding the state.

“Don't the Lebanese deserve that politicians give up their personal and narrow interests?” Audeh wondered in his Christmas sermon at St. George cathedral in downtown Beirut.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi lamented on Thursday the ongoing vacuum in the presidency, hoping for the election of a new president.

He wondered: “Who else besides the president seeks the interests of Lebanon?”

Information Minister Ramzi Jreij stressed that contacts over the negotiations to release the servicemen abducted from the northeastern border town of Arsal are taking place in coordination with General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah on Thursday.

He told the daily: “Arsal deputy municipal chief Ahmed Fleiti is accepted by all sides.”

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Russian deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov discussed during the latter's visit to Lebanon earlier in December the ongoing conflict in Syria and the party's position on the matter, reported al-Akhbar newspaper on Thursday.

It said: “Despite the growing alliance between Moscow and Tehran and their backing of Damascus on the economic and military levels, Nasrallah has become a source of honest positions for Russia.”

Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel stressed on Thursday that Lebanon's salvation relies on the will of the Lebanese to coexist and live freely.

“Lebanon has passed through tough conditions and the (political) movement has no basis without the will of the Lebanese to fortify the country,” Gemayel said in comments published in the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Seyassah.