French President Francois Hollande told al-Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri that the only solution to the presidential impasse is through the election of founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun, al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday.

“During Hariri's latest visit to France in May, Hollande told the Mustaqbal chief that the solution to the internal crisis can only come from Aoun's side,” March 14 sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri is expected to launch a series of positions during the Ramadan iftar banquets at the Center House, mainly after the fiery statements of Interior Minister Nouahd al-Mashnouq, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Hariri's stances will be the first since Mashnouq declared in a televised interview that Saudi Arabia was behind his nomination of Marada chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency. The stance was deeply resented by Hariri according to sources close to the ex-PM.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim warned Monday that stability in the country is in a “critical situation,” citing the regional conflicts, the presidential void and the threats at the eastern, northern and southern borders.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has assisted the country’s authorities in fighting a large fire in the general area of Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon, a UNIFIL press statement said on Monday.

“The firefighting operations took place in a heavily mined areas in the proximity of the Blue Line,” it added.

An Islamic State group cell that was arrested last week in Khirbet Daoud in Akkar confessed to have carried out several sniper operations against military vehicles, in addition to the assassination of Badr Eid in 2015, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

One of the detainees, Jassem Saadeddine confessed to the assassination of Badr Eid, the brother of late MP Ali Eid, in 2015 in an armed ambush on the al-Kwaykhat-al-Hisa road in Akkar, said the daily.

A two-hour meeting between Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq took place over the weekend, where Mashnouq stated that he bears the responsibility of his latest stances that touched on Saudi Arabia, al-Akhbar daily reported on Monday.

Three people were killed and five others were injured Sunday in a three-vehicle traffic accident on the Zahle-Chtaura highway in the Bekaa, the Traffic Management Center reported.

The Hizbullah-affiliated al-Mahdi Scouts movement on Sunday organized sit-ins and rallies in several southern towns and villages to voice rejection of the celebratory gunfire trend, state-run National News Agency reported.

Firefighters from Akkar are trying to extinguish a brush fire on Saturday that burnt about several acres of vegetation in several towns of Akkar, the National News Agency reported.

The high weather temperature has sparked the fire which erupted in the towns of al-Arqaf, Masha, Hayzouq and Beit Haddara, NNA added.

The Lebanese army found on Saturday a bag in an area between Mdayrij and Hammana in the Upper Metn region that contained detonators, hand grenades and bullets, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The army found, after midnight, a large “suspicious” bag thrown on the side of the road between Mdayrij and Hammana, NNA said.