Clashes resumed in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp overnight, with heavy gunfire and shelling wounding at least 20 people and prompting residents of the camp and the surrounding area to flee on Friday.

There had previously been several days of street battles in the Ein el-Hilweh camp between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and Islamist groups after Fatah accused the Islamists of gunning down one of their military generals on July 30. Those street battles left at least 13 dead and dozens wounded, and forced hundreds to flee from their homes.

Progressive Socialist Party former leader Walid Jumblat on Friday lauded Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s “local, Arab and international efforts for resolving the presidential crisis.”

“We also highly appreciate your support for dialogue, despite the various obstacles,” Jumblat added addressing al-Rahi, at a gathering in Mukhtara that was part of the patriarch’s tour of the Chouf and Aley regions.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka on Friday met with caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. The Special Coordinator underlined that the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2695 on the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate should be “an opportunity for all sides to recommit to stability in southern Lebanon and along the Blue Line,” her office said.

She mentioned in particular “the importance of working towards the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006).”

Lebanon is “governed by stability and security and its civil peace will not be shaken,” a senior Lebanese leader has quoted a prominent international envoy as saying.

The envoy had visited Lebanon recently, the senior leader told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, in remarks published Friday.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has lashed out at both Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the Lebanese Forces-led opposition over the issue of the proposed dialogue.

“As if all parties have a tacit agreement on maintaining presidential vacuum so that each of them can implement his project,” Bassil said at an FPM ceremony in Batroun.

Clashes broke out late Thursday in a restive Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon that was rocked by deadly fighting just weeks ago, an AFP correspondent said.

The fighting in the Ain el-Helweh camp once again pitted members of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement against Islamist militants, a source within the Palestinian camp's leadership said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The caretaker Cabinet on Thursday approved a decision by the country’s financial authorities to replace the Sayrafa currency exchange platform with one based on the international Bloomberg platform.

Asked whether the new platform “has been requested by the international community,” caretaker Information Minister Ziad Makari told reporters that no such move has been requested from Lebanon.

French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to achieve a breakthrough in the Lebanese presidential file and will discuss this matter with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when he meets him soon, al-Liwaa newspaper said.

“Macron is optimistic that a breakthrough can be achieved during the expected visit to Beirut by his personal envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian,” the daily quoted French Presidency sources as saying.

Over a thousand Syrian refugees each week fleeing to Lebanon from their country's worsening economic and financial conditions "could create harsh imbalances" in the small Mediterranean nation, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned Thursday.

Over the past months, thousands of Syrian citizens made it to Lebanon through illegal crossing points seeking a better life. But Lebanon is going through its own four-year meltdown, with a drowning economy pinning its hopes on tourism and crumbling infrastructure where electricity and water cuts are widespread.

Ninety-one MPs will attend a seven-day dialogue proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri, following which open presidential election sessions would be held, al-Akhbar newspaper said Thursday.

- Who's attending -