Seven people were killed in clashes as a ceasefire fell apart on Wednesday evening in Lebanon's largest Palestinian camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent's Lebanon branch said.

The Ain el-Helweh refugee camp, on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon, has been rocked by violence since last week.

Israeli airstrikes have killed two Syrian soldiers and wounded six others on Syria's west coast, state media said, quoting a military source.

"At exactly 17:22 (1422 GMT) this (Wednesday) afternoon, the Israeli enemy carried out strikes... from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea targeting some of our air defense sites in Tartus," the official news agency SANA quoted the source as saying.

The 5-nation group on Lebanon -- which comprises the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt-- supports a dialogue proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri to end the presidential impasse, Annahar newspaper said.

Berri had called on the Lebanese parties to engage in seven days of dialogue in parliament followed by open-ended electoral sessions to choose a new president.

French Special Presidential Envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian resumed Wednesday his meetings with Lebanese key players as France seeks to end a political crisis that has left the country without a president for over a year.

Le Drian met Wednesday with former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and incumbent leader MP Taymour Jumblat in Clemenceau, after an earlier meeting with Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad.

Saleh Sariyeh, 60, a Palestinian from the refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh in Lebanon, has been killed along with his family in the floods that hit eastern Libya.

Sariyeh’s home was washed away in the floods, his nephew Mohammed Sariyeh told The Associated Press.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and its Islamist rival Hamas have voiced support for the fledgling ceasefire in the Ain el-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp in Sidon, a statement said Wednesday, as Palestine Liberation Organization official Azzam al-Ahmad accused "foreign parties" of stoking the camp's violence.

Clashes have rocked Ain el-Helweh since last Thursday, pitting members of Fatah, which controls most of the camp, against hardline Islamist militants. Hamas has stayed out of the fighting.

The British Embassy Beirut on Wednesday announced that applications for the UK Government’s flagship Chevening Scholarships program are now open. Applicants should apply online via chevening.org/apply by November 7, 2023.

The scholarship, which is now in its 40th year, offers full financial support for scholars to study for any eligible master’s degree at over 150 UK universities whilst also gaining access to a wide range of exclusive academic, professional, and cultural experiences.

French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian has met in Paris with Saudi minister Nizar al-Aloula and Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari, media reports said.

The meeting confirmed that “there is no breakthrough in Riyadh’s stance, with the Saudis stressing in it that their country will not be concerned with Lebanon unless its demands regarding the president’s characteristics, program and reforms are met,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Two landmines exploded early Wednesday along the Lebanon-Syria border wounding three Syrians trying to illegally cross into Lebanon, the Lebanese Army said in a statement.

The army said the mines exploded on the Syrian side of the border and that the wounded were rushed by the Lebanese Red Cross to a hospital in northern Lebanon for treatment.

A Qatari envoy will arrive in Lebanon on September 20 to discuss the Lebanese presidential file, a media report said.

“He will carry with him positivities and the names of presidential candidates and will explore the possibility of inviting Lebanese parties to Qatar to hold consultations over the presidential file,” ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Wednesday.