Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi accused on Sunday politicians of creating divisions among the people, blaming it for the “fragmentation of society.”

He therefore urged during his Sunday sermon officials from the civil society to “work on reuniting the people, in cooperation with schools and universities, away from political divisions and affiliations.”

Bishop Samir Mazloum reiterated the anger of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi against lawmakers for extending their own term and failing to elect a new president, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah on Sunday.

He told the daily: “Should the disputes between the Christian parties persist, our partners in Lebanon, meaning the Muslims, may resort to resolving the presidential deadlock themselves.”

The chances of Army chief General Jean Qahwaji of becoming president have increased with his recent visit to Saudi Arabia, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah on Sunday.

Arab diplomatic sources told the daily that his visit to the kingdom, where a number of French officials were present, to sign the Saudi grant to the Lebanese army “opened the last blocked doors to his election as president.”

The Lebanese army detained earlier this week prominent suspects linked to security incidents that have taken place in Lebanon in recent months, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Sunday.

A military source told the daily that the army had arrested on Tuesday the assistant of terror detainee Ahmed Salim Miqati in the northern city of Tripoli.

A gunshot from an unknown source left a seven-year-old child dead in the Baalbek district town of Maqneh on Saturday.

“The child Ali Suheil al-Meqdad was playing on the roof of a building in the town when he was hit by a gunshot to the head,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Several people were injured on Saturday as a personal dispute erupted into gunfire in the town of Haret al-Naameh, south of Beirut.

The clash between young men from the town also involved the use of sharp objects, state-run National News Agency reported.

A man was arrested Saturday in the southern city of Sidon on charges of blackmailing a number of young men on the Internet.

“The South investigation department arrested Jaafar A. on charges of blackmailing a number of individuals after deceiving them,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Friends and former colleagues of a U.S. aid worker whom the Islamic State group (IS) group has threatened to execute appealed Saturday for his release, during a news conference they held in the northern city of Tripoli.

Twenty-six-year-old Peter Kassig, who converted to Islam and took the Muslim name Abdel Rahman, has been an IS captive since 2013.

Police guards at the Tyre prison on Saturday thwarted an attempt to smuggle a quantity of hashish that was hidden in a number of potatoes.

“Palestinian national M. A., 22, was arrested after he tried to smuggle a quantity of hashish that was stuffed into 16 potatoes in a crafty manner,” the Internal Security Forces said in a statement.

A soldier who defected the army in October and joined the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front reportedly handed himself over to the Army Intelligence.

The state-run National News Agency reported that Omar Khaled Shamtiyeh turned himself over to the Army Intelligence in North Lebanon.