Speaker Nabih Berri has said that a meeting held on Thursday between his aide and al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri's adviser could be the last before the much anticipated dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal.

Local dailies published on Friday quoted Berri as telling his visitors that the talks between his aide Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Nader Hariri to agree on the agenda of the dialogue could be the last one.

The army is cautiously carrying out precautionary measures at the entrances of the southern Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp as Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir denied that he is residing there.

According to Ad Diyar newspaper published on Friday, the Lebanese army fortified its posts in the southern city of Sidon and appointed female soldiers to search veiled women after obtaining reports that Islamist fugitive Shadi Mawlawi and Asir are planning to escape from the Palestinian camp.

A judge has delayed the trial of a Lebanese-born U.S. Marine accused of deserting his unit a decade ago in Iraq and later winding up in Lebanon.

Camp Lejeune spokesman Lt. Col. Cliff Gilmore said Thursday that a military judge granted a defense request to delay Cpl. Wassef Hassoun's case until February.

Four Syrian suspects were arrested Thursday by the army in separate operations in the Bekaa region.

“An army intelligence patrol raided an apartment inhabited by Syrians in the New Riyaq area and arrested three people, including defected officer A. M.,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Masked gunmen robbed Thursday a stone quarry in the Bekaa border town of Arsal and left a death threat for its owner.

“Eight masked gunmen riding two 4x4 pickups – a black GMC and a black Tacoma – stole equipment at gunpoint from a stone quarry owned by Bilal Mahmoud al-Hujeiri in the Arsal area of Wadi Zaarour,” state-run National News Agency reported.

First Examining Magistrate Judge Ghassan Owaidat issued on Thursday an indictment in the death of four-year-old Celine Rakan, accusing the Ethiopian maid of killing her.

Last month, an arrest warrant was issued against the domestic worker.

Qatar's mediator, Ahmed al-Khatib, returned to Beirut on Thursday and went into immediate talks with Lebanese officials on the negotiations aimed at securing the release of servicemen taken hostage by jihadists.

Reports said the negotiations have entered a new stage and that al-Khatib, a Syrian, is expected to head to the northeastern border town of Arsal on Friday to follow up the case.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly welcomed on Thursday the recent efforts to push for dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement.

Plumbly said following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh that he agreed with him that “dialogue is necessary for strengthening Lebanon’s security, stability and coexistence and for moving forward on outstanding constitutional steps.”

The Lebanese army opened anti-aircraft fire on Thursday at an unmanned plane in central Bekaa, the state-run National News Agency reported.

According to NNA, the Army's Second Artillery Brigade opened anti-aircraft fire at a drone that was flying over the Riyaq military airport.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan called on Muslims and Christians to confront a common enemy that is committing atrocities against nations and religious beliefs under the name of Islam.

“Coexistence between Muslims and Christians calls for equality in rights and duties without any discrimination,” Daryan said in his a speech at a two-day international conference in Cairo on fighting extremism.