Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said on Friday that Lebanon's political forces should end the conflict over the presidency and elect a head of state away from “useless packages” and illusions that foreign countries might help Lebanon to a solution.

The cabinet on Thursday approved the payment of the so-called “secret funds” that the security agencies use in their clandestine activities, as the Free Patriotic Movement continued its partial boycott of the cabinet meetings.

Military Examining Magistrate Judge Fadi Sawan carried on the investigations into the Ksara bombing file, as he listened to the testimony of some witnesses, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

NNA added that 13 persons have been detained so far over involvement in the case and 5 others were sentenced in absentia.

The Muslim Scholars Committee urged the Sunni community to withdraw the confidence from the Sunni political leaders and accused them of neglect, mainly after the detention of former Mufti Sheikh Bassam al-Tarras over his alleged involvement in terror groups, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported on Thursday.

The Scholars accused the Sunni politicians of “neglecting and abandoning the community,” as they affirmed that former Tarras was innocent of the charges filed against him of belonging to the Islamic State group, said the daily.

The body of a man who had been shot dead was found in the southern Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp on Thursday, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

The body was found lying in one of the alleyways in the camp, and he was shot three times in his head. The body showed signs of torture, added NNA.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed on Wednesday that the army, people and Resistance equation protects Lebanon as he refused any attempts aiming to obstruct the government’s work.

“The army, people and Resistance equation protects us and we refuse obstructing the government under any pretext,” stressed Nasrallah in the second live appearance within 24 hours addressing thousands of supporters in the southern suburb of Beirut marking Ashoura.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri flew to Riyadh on Tuesday for talks with Saudi officials over the thorny file of Lebanon's presidency, media reports said on Wednesday.

Hariri has returned recently to Lebanon and launched a series of presidential consultations with the main political parties in a bid to end the deadlock at the top state post.

AMAL Movement Poliburo member MP Hani Qobeissi stressed on Wednesday the necessity to hold dialogue among the various political components in order to end the presidential vacuum ad reactivate the cabinet and parliament's work, the National News Agency reported.

“Under the leadership of Speaker Nabih Berri (head of AMAL) we adhere to communication to protect Lebanon and to prevent sedition. Assuming we can do that, we have to stick to our unity because the Imam al-Sadr called on us to hold on to national unity which fits in any Arab country, and the dialogue that was obstructed in Lebanon fits in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen for people to communicate with each other,” he added.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc member MP Jamal Jarrah stressed on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia will not interfere in Lebanon's presidential elections, as he assured that the comments made by Saudi chargé d'affaires in Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari on Twitter were simply to overview the history of late Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, thus dismissing any indication of Riyadh's support for a specific candidate.

The body of a dead man was found on the Karantina highway northeast of Beirut, the Traffic Management Center said on Tuesday.

Red Cross operations director George Kettaneh told VDL (100.5) that the body reportedly belongs to a Lebanese man in his 60s who was a victim of a hit-and-run incident.