General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim is holding onto a decision to execute terrorists convicted by the Lebanese judiciary in retaliation to the death of Lebanese soldiers and policemen in the captivity of the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front.

A minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity to As Safir newspaper on Friday, said that Ibrahim insisted during an emergency security meeting at the Grand Serail on executing sentenced terrorists in retaliation to the execution of the Lebanese servicemen.

A Moroccan man who admitted setting fire to a Shiite mosque in Brussels to protest the crackdown on fellow Sunnis in Syria was sentenced to 27 years in prison on Friday for the attack that killed the imam.

Rachid El-Boukhari, 35, had denied intending to kill the preacher at the main Shiite mosque in the Belgian capital.

Denmark urged wealthy Gulf states Friday to honor their promises on funding humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees as a crucial U.N. food aid program was cut after running out of money.

Denmark, already a big donor, said it could help the U.N. program, which was supporting 1.7 million Syrian refugees, but it blasted Gulf states for not paying up.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov called Friday for endorsing the principles of the Baabda Declaration in all countries in the Middle East, as he declined to reveal whether or not he discussed the issue of the stalled presidential vote with the Lebanese officials.

“We encourage holding the presidential election and we laud the role of the Lebanese army and security forces in the fight against terrorism,” Bogdanov said after meeting former president Michel Suleiman.

The United Nations said Friday it would continue providing food assistance for millions of Syrian refugees after a campaign to raise funds on social media secured $21.5 million (17.5 million euros) in the first 24 hours.

But a further $42.5 million is still needed by the U.N.'s World Food Program to provide food vouchers to almost 1.7 million Syrians who have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt up until the end of the month.

Three British men were sentenced to prison for terror offenses on Friday, as security forces crack down on what they say is a mounting threat from jihadists radicalized by the Syria conflict.

Childhood friends Mohammed Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, both aged 22 from Birmingham in central England, were jailed for 12 years and eight months each.

The leader of the moderate Syrian opposition said on Friday that cuts to U.N. food aid for 1.7 million Syrian refugees amounted to "an execution order" overseen by the international community.

"This amounts to an execution order for killing 1.7 million people under famine, especially during this harsh wintertime," Syrian National Coalition President Hadi al-Bahra said at a press conference in Copenhagen.

A Lebanese army expert dismantled on Friday a hand grenade and a home-made bomb in the northern city of Tripoli, the military announced.

The grenade and bomb were discovered by an army patrol in a empty water bottle in Tripoli's al-Amercan neighborhood, it said in a communique.

General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim stressed that the security agencies in the country are seeking to avert crises despite the complicated and difficult situation.

“The role played by security forces prevented Lebanon from falling into civil war and terrorism,” Ibrahim said in his editorial in General Security magazine that hit stands on Friday.

Islamic State group jihadists are closing in on the government-held Deir Ezzor air base in eastern Syria, nearly surrounding its beleaguered garrison, a monitoring group said on Friday.

IS fighters seized the village of Al-Jaffrah, adjacent to the base, leaving it surrounded except for a narrow corridor to the west, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.