Lebanese authorities on Saturday arrested a fugitive Islamic cleric wanted for his role in deadly clashes with the army as he tried to flee the country.

Ahmed al-Asir was apprehended at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport while trying to travel to Nigeria via Cairo with a fake Palestinian passport, General Security announced.

The lunch that brought together Army Chief General Jean Qahwaji and the Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz was not a private event and did not have any political connotations, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

“The lunch between Qahwaji and Roukoz was a public event that took place in the presence of a number of army officers. It was not a solo lunch nor did it have any political connotations,” prominent sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.

The relatives of four servicemen taken captive by Islamist groups from the northeastern border town of Arsal in 2014 failed on Saturday to meet their loved ones.

“The four families of the kidnapped soldiers were not able to enter the outskirts of Arsal to visit their sons,” the state-run National News Agency said.

The speeches of Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah followed by the speech of his ally Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun “could herald a momentum towards a solution to the paralysis governing the country,” well informed sources told the daily As Safir on Saturday.

“The speech of Hizbullah leader that was followed by Aoun's TV appearance on al-Manar can form an impetus towards a solution rather than a new problem,” said the sources on condition of anonymity.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Friday warned his rivals against what he described as further “provocation,” stressing that the country's next president must be representative of the Christian community.

“Our protests are peaceful but if they continue to provoke us, our behavior might change,” said Aoun in an interview on al-Manar television.

Defected Colonel Abdullah Hussein al-Rifai, the so-called leader of the Free Syrian Army in Arsal and its outskirts, was shot dead Friday in the Lebanese border town.

State-run National News Agency said the shooting occurred in the town's square.

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri slammed Friday what he called “incitement” against al-Mustaqbal movement, denying allegations by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that there is an attempt to “isolate” and “defeat” MP Michel Aoun.

“They have fabricated the claim that there is a party seeking to isolate and defeat General Aoun. They made up the lie and believed it, turning it into a gateway to incite against Mustaqbal,” Hariri tweeted.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed Friday that no one will be able to “isolate” or “defeat” Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun, his party's main Christian ally, describing him as a “mandatory pathway” in the presidential elections and in the government.

“We won't accept that any of our allies be defeated or isolated, especially those who stood by us in the July war … Since the one being targeted these days is General Aoun, I tell you that you won't be able to isolate General Aoun,” said Nasrallah in a televised address marking the end of the 2006 war.

Three fugitives from the Jaafar clan were arrested and a quantity of arms and ammunition was seized on Friday in the northern Bekaa region of Hermel, the army said.

“An army force raided a number of areas in the Hermel, al-Qasr and Wadi Fisan areas and arrested the fugitives Mahdi Karam Jaafar, Liwaa Karam Jaafar and Murad Karam Jaafar,” the Army Command said in a statement.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed his disappointment with the political leaderships' handling of Lebanon's crisis, saying that it “harms the country more than foreign factors,” reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday.

His visitors on Thursday told the daily that the speaker emphasized that “there can be no solutions without dialogue.”