Israel's armed forces chief Lieutenant General Benny Gantz ruled out on Friday reports saying that Hizbullah possesses chemical weapons, warning the party and Syria that the Israeli army is fully ready to face any emergency in the region.

"Israel will respond to any development that might shake the security balance in the region,” Benny stated during a meeting with high school students in Israel.

Several roads were blocked on Friday in the northern city of Tripoli in protest at a dispute that erupted between army troops and the bodyguards of Salafist cleric Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal in the Bekaa town of Majdal Anjar.

“An army patrol arrested one of al-Shahhal's bodyguards for carrying a visible weapon in Majdal Anjar,” OTV quoted a military source as saying.

An Israeli force has advanced on Friday towards al-Wazzani border region without crossing the technical fence and the Blue Line, the National News Agency reported.

"Fourteen members and three armored vehicles advanced towards the east bank of the river,” the NNA elaborated.

The army has arrested an Egyptian man on charges of selling mobile phone lines without requesting legal identification documents from the buyers, including from one of the abductors of the child Mohammed Nibal Awada who was abducted last week.

“As part of the efforts exerted by the intelligence directorate to combat the wave of kidnappings, and after expanding the investigations into the abduction of the child Mohammed Nibal Awada, a patrol from the directorate arrested Egyptian national Mohammed Sayyed Zaki Sayyed al-Fidawi on Feb. 27,” an army statement said.

Israeli President Shimon Peres will visit Brussels next week to lobby the European Union to list Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, his office said on Friday.

Peres' office said the Israeli president would also meet Bulgarian counterpart Rosen Plevneliev and other leaders of the European bloc during his March 5-12 trip.

Four gunmen stormed Mohammed al-Amin mosque in downtown Beirut during a sermon by Sheikh Hisham Khalifeh on Friday, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The news agency said that a verbal dispute occurred between Sheikh Khalifeh and the armed men during the prayers. The four men later left the mosque.

Islamist detainees in Roumieh prison held several members of the Internal Security Forces hostage after a small protest turned into a riot amid demands for general amnesty, the National News Agency and TV stations reported.

NNA said the prisoners began calling for amnesty when the security personnel prevented a female visitor from meeting a detainee for not having a visit permit.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel revealed on Friday that security forces have so far arrested 54 people involved in the kidnappings in return for ransom but scores remain on the run.

After presiding a meeting of the Central Security Council, Charbel said: “Those responsible for the kidnappings are known and will not receive any politician cover.”

Lebanon and Jordan confirmed on Friday that both countries still haven't received any of the aid that donor Arab and other states pledged to pay to assist with the influx of Syrian refugees.

“We need to tackle the matter with the international community in a united and collaborative way to resolve the burden of the refugees on our countries,” visiting Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Jawdeh told reporters at a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee went ahead with its open ended-strike for the second week in a row by holding a sit-in near the Labor Ministry in Beirut's Shiyah district and announcing of the implementation of new escalatory measures starting Monday.

“We will implement new escalating measures starting Monday, in particular, near private schools,” head of the private school teachers association Nehme Mahfoud told protesters.