The Lebanese Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani rejected on Friday calls for the deportation of Syrian refugees out of Lebanon, expressing that it is a “duty to receive them and provide them with basic needs”.

“No politician or citizen in Lebanon has the right to harass Syrian refugees or demand their deportation,” the Mufti said in a released statement.

The parents of the fighters killed in Tall Kalakh ambush and those of the Islamist inmates in Roumieh prison held a sit-in on Friday in front of Prime Minister Najib Miqati's residence in Tripoli, demanding the freeing of the detained and unveiling the fate of the missing fighters in Syria.

"We will hold another sit-in this Sunday near the al-Arida crossing to press on these issues,” the spokesman of the families of the fighters Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim announced on behalf of the protesters.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly welcomed on Friday the Lebanese cabinet's decision of maintaining an open border with Syria, saluting its adoption of a “comprehensive plan” to meet the needs of refugees.

“We praise the government's continuous efforts to abide by its international obligations towards refugees,” Connelly said in a statement released after she met with Energy Minister Jebran Bassil.

Lebanon is seeking to establish a joint Lebanese-Syrian committee to deal with the conditions of the Syrian refugees across the country as sharp differences surged between cabinet members on the measures to deal with the situation.

Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) reported on Friday that Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour discussed with Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali a proposal to establish the committee that will be tasked with tackling the issue of Syrian refugees.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat revealed on Friday that the reconciliation in the Mountains was complete after the end of violations against Christian properties in a mixed village in the Shouf district.

“We will hold a reconciliation ceremony under the auspices of the (Maronite) patriarch and the president after the wound of the town of Brih healed following the end of violations against the properties of Christians,” Jumblat told reporters in Bkirki.

The army has detained five suspects involved in an armed clash that erupted in al-Njassah neighborhood of the southern city of Sidon, which left one man dead.

According to a communique issued by the army command on Friday, a unit headed to the area and found the body of a Palestinian man shot several times.

Security forces seized from two inmates in Roumieh prison several illegal items, including a spy pen, the state-run National News Agency reported on Friday.

NNA said police found two SIM cards with Palestinian prisoner Safi Hassan Mattar, 24, and seized a spy pen camera and a USB from a 42-year-old Lebanese inmate identified as Bilal Mohammed Ali Qaddouh.

Secretary of Bakeries Syndicate Anis Beshara warned on Friday that the price of the 900-gram bread pack will increase to LL2,000 if the government decided to lift subsidies on wheat starting February.

He voiced hope, in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper, that the current price of the standard bread pack would remain at LL1,500, in particular, amid the present dire economy situation.

President Michel Suleiman is scheduled on January 22 to visit Moscow where he will meet with his Russian counterpart and receive an award on his role in calling for dialogue and opening channels of communication between bickering parties, the Central News Agency reported.

CNA said Thursday that Suleiman's two-day visit comes following an official invitation sent by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati played down differences between cabinet members on the Syrian refugees in Lebanon saying relief aid to the displaced will continue despite a heated debate on government measures to deal with the situation.

In remarks to As Safir daily published on Friday, Miqati said: “We are responsible towards the refugee issue from its humanitarian and moral aspects.”