The army deployed heavily on Saturday in Beirut's southern suburbs to end clashes that erupted between two families in al-Jamous neighborhood, media reports said.

According to the state-run National News Agency, gunbattles broke out between Nassereddine and Meqdad families in the neighborhood.

Syrian National Coalition chief Ahmed Jarba voiced hope on Saturday that Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea would be elected as the new head of state.

According to a statement issued by the LF press office, Jarba told Geagea in a telephone conversation that “the Syrian people support him for presidency and would be glad if he reached the Baabda Palace.”

This small, scenic patch of land where the frontiers of Syria, Lebanon and Israel converge has long been a flashpoint, with Hizbullah fighters and Israeli troops positioned face to face in close quarters across undefined and disputed borders.

The Syrian civil war has made the region known as Shebaa Farms even more dangerous.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Lebanese arch-foes to stage the presidential elections on time within the constitutional deadline and according to the norms, calling on Hizbullah to become a political party.

“Carrying out the presidential polls according to a free and fair process in line with the (U.N. Security Council) resolution 1559 is a main element to maintain democratic institutions,” Ban said.

Residents of the southern city of Sidon and its suburbs spotted several locusts on Saturday, which some experts said is due to the hot weather that Lebanon is witnessing currently, media reports said.

Citizens and farmers of the coastal area fear that an increase in the number of locusts could threaten their fields and crops.

The March 14 alliance is carrying out consultations among its factions to guarantee the success of its candidate for the presidential elections and to avert any possible vacuum at the helm of the country's most important Christian post, local newspapers reported on Saturday.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, al-Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri's envoy former MP Ghattas Khoury held separate talks on Friday with the head of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, and Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel to evaluate the first parliamentary vote and the possible scenarios for the upcoming round.

The summons by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon of al-Jadeed TV and al-Akhbar newspaper's journalists on charges of “contempt and obstruction of justice” are “void” and could be refuted.

Lawyer Antoine Korkmaz, who is suspect Mustafa Badreddine's lead defense counsel, told As Safir newspaper on Saturday that the case “is legally invalid.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat urged al-Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri to return to Lebanon soon as “there are no excuses that could justify his absence.”

“I call on Hariri to return and head an all-embracing cabinet (after the election of a new president) to avert further tension and crises,” Jumblat said in an interview with As Safir newspaper.

The council of ministers decided on Friday to refer all bombings and all cases of booby-trapped cars to the Judicial Council.

The ministers also discussed the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's summons of al-Jadeed television ad al-Akhabar daily's journalists, expressing their keenness on preserving freedom of the press, but noting at the same time that the STL's internal system allows it to summon media personalities.

Two rockets launched from the Syrian side of the border landed in the Bekaa region of Hermel, the military institution announced on Friday.

"Army units are inspecting the location where the rockets landed, to identify their types and where they were launched from," the army added in a communique.