Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros al-Rahi said on Sunday that the Lebanese state has touched the verge of collapse in light of the vacuum at the presidential post and the paralysis of the parliament and government.

“The Lebanese state has reached a stage that threatens of total collapse because of those who either directly or indirectly were responsible for the vacuum at the top state post for the last year and six months,” said al-Rahi during Sunday mass in Bkirki.

Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji stressed that the delay in payment of salaries to the military must be “solved as soon as possible,” assuring that he will not stand idle, al Mustaqbal daily reported on Sunday.

“We will not remain silent, we want the payrolls as soon as possible,” he told the daily.

Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbullah party have vowed to Prime Minister Tammam Salam that they will handle the talks with MP Talal Arslan to substitute the Kfour landfill with that in the area of Costa Brava in Khaldeh after the latter expressed unwillingness to do so, unnamed ministerial sources told Al Mustaqbal daily on Sunday.

The Premier was planning to call for a cabinet session on Monday to tackle the thorny trash crisis file, but Berri and Hizbullah asked him to pause the move for 24 hours pending their scheduled meeting with head of the Lebanese Democratic Party Arslan on Sunday, the paper added.

An Internal Security Forces Corporal was found dead in the eastern city of Zahle with a gunshot wound to his head, the state-run National News Agency said on Friday

Maroun Jerjes al-Khoury, 27, was found dead on the balcony of his home in Zahle's al-Hmar region suffering from a gunshot wound, NNA added.

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab stated on Thursday that preparations to set a waste processing incinerator in the Metn town of Dhour al-Shweir continue and that it will be completed within one week, As Safir daily reported.

“Efforts to prepare an incinerator to process the waste of Dhour al-Shweir and the neighboring towns are ongoing and they will be completed within one week,” said Abou Saad, assuring that the incinerator is environmentally friendly.

Speaker Nabih Berri stated that the twentieth dialogue session between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal was successful, adding that a decision to activate the security plan in the eastern Bekaa valley has been reached, As Safir daily reported on Thursday.

“An agreement has been reached to activate the security plan in Bekaa with the full support of Amal and Hizbullah,” Berri told the daily.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed the willingness of the Amal movement and Hizbullah to shoulder the burden of the trash that originates from the areas under their influence, which could end the almost five-month trash management crisis, As Safir daily reported.

“Unfortunately, some parties have insisted on involving the waste file in sectarianism,” Berri told the daily on Thursday.

Unknown assailants opened fire in the northern city Tripoli at a Lebanese army Intelligence Adjutant without injuring him, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Adjutant A.M. was subject to gunfire in the area of al-Qobbeh, NNA added.

The eighth dialogue session convened at parliament on Monday after it tackled several pressing issues mainly the lingering trash crisis that saw the streets of the capital swirling with trash bags on Sunday.

Another session will be held next week on November 3.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee held a partial strike on Monday in the public institutions and schools demanding that the new wage scale be included on the agenda of the expected legislative session.

The public institutions, private, elementary and intermediate public schools closed on Monday while public high schools did not join the protest.