Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh will reportedly withdraw his candidacy for the presidential post in favor of founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun, As Safir daily said on Saturday.

Franjieh told French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault that he is ready to move back from his nomination for the head of state in favor of Aoun if Lebanon's interest requires that, according to the daily.

Director of the Tripoli Port Ahmed Tamer assured on Friday that the Turkish freight vessels that were seized for inspection and search in the port a day earlier did not contain banned cargo, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

“The authorities suspected the presence of banned materials in the shipments of the two ships that carried 54 trucks,” Tamer told NNA.

A gang of Syrian and Lebanese nationals has compiled a hit list that includes the names of ten people in the northeastern border town of Arsal, As Sharq al-Awsat daily reported on Friday.

“There are gangs comprised of Lebanese and Syrian nationals who have singled out a list of specific names that they plan to terminate, ”Arsal's municipal chief Bassel al-Hujeiri told the daily in an interview.

Hizbullah praised Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh for preventing some banking institutions from using a U.S. law against Hizbullah as a punitive tool against its supporters, al-Akhbar daily reported on Friday.

After observing the performance of the Special Investigation Commission for Fighting Money Laundering for more than a month, Hizbullah sent a letter to Salameh which included recognition of his role in curbing some banking institutions and preventing them from converting the U.S. law into a tool to punish supporters of the Resistance, said the daily.

Maronite Patriarch visited the eastern border town of al-Qaa on Thursday and extended condolences to the families of the victims of the suicide bombings that rattled the town late in June.

“We are here to preserve the Christian-Muslim coexistence in the region and to confront terrorism which knows no religion,” said al-Rahi.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas emphasized that although Lebanon welcomes the displaced Syrians on its territory but the country will not resettle them, al-Joumhouria daily said on Thursday.

“The Syrians are our brothers and they are welcome, but the idea of resettlement, lending, renting or selling them parts of land, or selling them passports is out of the question,” stressed Derbas in an interview to the daily.

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil stressed on Thursday that Lebanon's state budget for the year 2017 will be ready before the constitutional due date, al-Joumhouria daily reported.

“I am in the process of reaching the final stages in preparing the state's financial plan. It will be presented to the cabinet as soon as a session is set to discuss it,” said Khalil in an interview to the daily.

A Palestinian man was shot with gunfire early on Thursday when an unknown assailant opened fire at him in the refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in Sidon, the National News Agency reported.

Hizbullah on Wednesday lashed out at Syria's rebel groups after a video circulated on social media showed rebel fighters from the Nurredin Zinki group beheading a young boy after capturing him north of Syria's second city Aleppo.

An explosion has struck a southern Syrian town and there are conflicting reports on the cause of the blast.