Speaker Nabih Berri met in Tehran on Saturday with President of the Iranian Shura Council Ali Larijani where talks focused on the relations between the two countries, and the latest developments in the region, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The General Security announced the arrest of a Syrian individual over his involvement with the Islamic State group and who had been recruiting members in Lebanon in favor of the organization, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

Head of the Change Movement Elie Mahfoud said on Saturday that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah can negotiate the Syrian refugees crisis with his “ally” Syrian President Bashar Assad, just like he negotiated with his enemies over the release of Hizbullah captives.

The army renewed firing artillery on Saturday at posts and vehicles of the terrorist Islamic State group on the outskirts of the eastern border town of Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa, the National News Agency reported.

“The War Media outlet said the army was able to inflict casualties among the IS ranks killing and wounding several in al-Mkhayrmeh neighborhood of Ras Baalbek outskirts,” LBCI reported later on Saturday.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced Friday during a visit to Tehran that the Lebanese army is “among the best armies in the region.”

State Security police arrested a Syrian man in the Aley district on Friday on accusation of helping to smuggle Syrian nationals into Lebanon, the National News Agency reported.

The suspect, who was identified as Fayez Hmeid, was accused of smuggling people through illegal crossings between Lebanon and Syria in return for sums of money, NNA said.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said on Friday that a decision to make displaced Syrians return home must not be linked to any events happening in Syria, as he pointed out that contacts with the Syrian regime to that end are "not binding nor prohibited.”

Contacts with US and Russian sides, with regard to the situation on the Lebanese border, are underway to pave the way for the “international coalition to provide an air cover for the Lebanese army's upcoming battle against the Islamic State group” on the outskirts of the border towns of al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

Al-Qaida's former Syria affiliate al-Nusra Front on Thursday handed over five Hizbullah captives to the Lebanese party as part of a ceasefire agreement that also involved the evacuation of thousands of militants and refugees from northeast Lebanon to Syria.

The five captives – Ahmed Mezher, Moussa Kourani, Hassan Taha, Mohammed Mahdi Shoaib and Mohammed Jawad Yassine – were handed over at the al-Saan crossing in Syria's central Hama province.

Minister of Information Melhem Riachi launched on Thursday a media campaign devised to mitigate the growing tension in the Lebanese community as the result of hosting scores of Syrian refugees.

"There is a problem which we need to resolve. We need to prevent tension between the Lebanese people and the Syrian refugees,” said Riachi in a press conference he held in the presence of UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag.