Security forces fired in the air on Thursday to prevent angry relatives from storming the al-Qobbeh prison in Tripoli.

The National News Agency said the families burned tires outside the prison after a number of inmates staged a riot that involved starting a fire inside the facility.

The Constitutional Council has invalidated the election of Tripoli MP Dima Jamali in the parliamentary elections after her win was contested by unsuccessful candidate Taha Naji.

The Council’s head Issam Suleiman said an election in the Tripoli district of Minieh will be held within two months to fill the vacant seat.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday ended the Cabinet's first session after the ordinary agenda was discussed and after a heated debate erupted over the thorny issue of the relation with Syria.

“The President stressed the need for the return of Syrian refugees to their country without linking the issue to the political solution and we can only approach the issue in a serious manner,” Information Minister Jamal al-Jarrah said after the session.

Lebanon’s problematic electricity file is one of the government's focal issues amid reports claiming that a Russian proposal to build a power plant could end the suffering of Lebanese, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday blasted State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib's visit to Syria as he lashed out at what he called a “big deception campaign.”

“The two discouraging signals represented in Minister Saleh al-Gharib's visit to Syria and Minister Elias Bou Saab's stance at the Munich conference can only spark concern over the future of the government's work,” Geagea said in an interview with the Central News Agency.

President Michel Aoun stressed Wednesday that “it is not true that Hizbullah's influence over Lebanon is increasing.”

“This is the U.S. vision and it contradicts with reality, seeing as Hizbullah has maintained the same political presence it had in the previous government, and it is not true that its influence over Lebanon is increasing,” Aoun told a delegation from the Editors Syndicate, when asked about the U.S. concerns over Hizbullah.

Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab announced Wednesday that his stance on Syria at the Munich security conference was backed by Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit and U.N. special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen.

Bou Saab made the announcement after meeting Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail in the presence of ex-minister Ghattas Khoury.

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday stressed that Lebanon refuses to wait for a political solution in Syria before the refugees start returning to their homeland.

“Lebanon refuses to wait for a political solution before the refugees return home,” said Aoun, stressing that “Lebanon’s similar experience with the Palestinian refugees is not encouraging” for leniency in that regard.

Deputy Prime Minister Ghassan Hasbani on Wednesday stressed that decision-making or remarks outside the government's solidarity “do not represent the State’s” position.

Lebanon has nominated investment banker Ziad Hayek to be president of the World Bank challenging U.S. President Donald Trump’s candidate, media reports said on Wednesday.