Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun agreed during their meeting on Thursday on three central issues that will emphasize understanding between the two sides, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Saturday.

Sources from the March 8 camp told the daily that “Aoun was tasked once again with controlling the presidential elections file.”

Civil Defense firefighters battled a blaze that erupted overnight at the Monroe Hotel in DownTown Beirut as an enormous plume of smoke rose from the hotel's building.

On Saturday, the Civil Defense said in a statement via Twitter that its “firefighters were able to douse a fire that erupted at the hotel's building, evacuating all workers and residents.”

Israeli gunboats violated Lebanon's territorial waters three times on Friday, according to a Lebanese army statement.

“At 8:50 am, a military vessel belonging to the Israeli enemy breached Lebanon's territorial waters off Ras al-Naqoura by 300 meters before leaving at 9:00 am towards the territorial waters of occupied Palestine,” an army statement said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed Friday that only the Lebanese army can protect Lebanon from the terrorist groups that are entrenched on its border, as he criticized “interference in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.”

“Recently, we heard some parties trying to reassure us by saying that they would protect us from Daesh (Islamic State group) and al-Nusra Front ... Haven't they read any newspapers in the past 40 years?” said Geagea at a rally organized by the LF student department in Maarab under the slogan “Hands Off Lebanon”.

The Lebanese army raided the houses of three wanted individuals in the area of al-Ouzai suburb of Beirut and succeeded in detaining all three, an army statement said on Friday.

At dawn, an army patrol raided the said area and arrested the captives on charges of arbitrarily shooting at houses. The military also detained another person for hostility against a military member.

The Islamic State handed to Lebanese authorities the corpse of a soldier, who was killed in last year's battle in Arsal, and one of a civilian who was killed in the northeastern border town's outskirts, reported the National News Agency on Friday.

It said that soldier Ali al-Ali was killed on August 2 during the clashes between the army and jihadists from the IS and al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front when they overran Arsal.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met on Thursday with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun in a meeting aimed at discussing the latest local and regional developments, announced the two sides in a statement on Friday.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, Hizbullah Liaison and Coordination Officer Wafiq Safa, and Nasrallah's adviser Hussein Khalil.

Speaker Nabih Berri revealed that lawmakers from the Free Patriotic Movement had discussed with him on Wednesday the agenda of a legislative session and their aim to include a number of draft-laws to it, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday.

He stated that he would call for such a session if the FPM agrees to take part in it.

A battle for Syria's border region of al-Qalamun is imminent as Hizbullah and the Syrian army are making the final preparations for the fight, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday.

A high-ranking March 8 camp official told the daily: “The battle of al-Qalamun is very, very imminent and it will be very big.”

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi held talks in Turkey earlier this week with head of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces Khaled Khoja on the case of the Lebanese servicemen held hostage since August by jihadists, reported the daily An Nahar on Friday.

The minister told the daily that he is seeking the support of the Syrian opposition to release the Lebanese captives.