Defense Minister Samir Moqbel has given the approval to extend the term of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji for an additional year in light of the difficult circumstances Lebanon is passing through, the Kuwaiti As-Seyasah daily reported on Saturday.

Extending the term of Qahwaji is the “best option and the most appropriate for Lebanon and the army in light of the difficult conditions that the country is passing through and in the absence of a president,” ministerial sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.

Prominent Free Patriotic Movement members Ziad Abs, Naim Aoun and Antoine Nasrallah were on Friday expelled from the movement.

Ex-PM Fouad Saniora, the head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, warned Friday that any imminent attempt to change the current political system would be a “quick recipe” for the “explosion” of the country.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri was quick to snap back on Friday at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah over fierce anti-Saudi remarks.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday lashed out anew at Saudi Arabia, accusing it of rejecting dialogue in the region and stressing that its regional “project” will be “defeated.”

“Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia is insisting on continuing the wars in all arenas and rejecting all the extended hands. Those who have offered dialogue in Yemen have been asked to surrender, in Bahrain they have been asked to eliminate themselves, while in Syria preconditions are being demanded. The war is also continuing against Iran... seeing as Saudi Arabia is only launching dialogue with the Israelis,” said Nasrallah in a televised speech commemorating late Hizbullah official Ismail Zahri.

Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh stressed on Friday that his allies will not ask him to draw back his nomination for the top state post and assured that his candidacy for the presidential race is still valid.

“My allies will not ask me to withdraw my nomination and my candidacy for the presidency still stands,” declared Franjieh after a meeting he held with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea stated on Friday that the presidential file is complicated and that contacts with al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri are ongoing to convince him to elect the Change and Reform head MP Michel Aoun as president.

“MP Walid Jumblat has realized the actual situation and he prefers that a president is elected instead of the prolonging vacuum. Since the majority of the Christians have agreed on the election of Aoun, Jumblat has expressed readiness to vote for Aoun while contacts are ongoing with Hariri in that regard,” said Geagea to a popular delegation from the town of Tannourine.

Senior Muslim figures in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh received a pledge from extremist Islamic groups that there will be no attempts to shake the stability in the camp or other Lebanese regions, the Kuwaiti al-Rai daily reported on Friday.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri will soon agree on electing founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun for the post of presidency, As Safir daily reported on Friday.

“Ex-PM Hariri will in a few weeks agree on electing Change and Reform head MP Michel Aoun as president during the parliamentary meeting that follows the upcoming one,” a prominent political source at Hariri's Center House told the daily.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stressed Thursday that Lebanon will have a new president before the end of 2016, while noting that there will be no new security appointments before the election of the new president.