The families of the Arsal hostages met their sons on Saturday after the kidnappers agreed to the step as a good-will gesture on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.

Families of the abductees arrived at the northeastern border town of Arsal and were later transported to its outskirts to meet their sons, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Residents of the Jbeil district town of Hbaline blocked on Saturday all the roads leading to the controversial garbage landfill in their town, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Their move comes after the announcement of Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq that the Sukleen firm will continue collecting waste in Beirut and its suburbs in the coming days.

Lebanese authorities are searching for five Czechs feared kidnapped in the eastern Bekaa Valley, a military source and the state-run National News Agency said Saturday.

The five, along with their Lebanese driver Munir Taan, a resident of Nabatiyeh, have been missing since Friday night, when their car was discovered in the Kefraya region in the western part of the Bekaa.

Six people were wounded Friday in two separate clashes in the North district, al-Jadeed television reported.

A dispute between the Attiya and Hammoud families escalated into a fight involving the use of batons and knives in the Akkar district town of al-Muqaybleh.

Lebanese media outlets scrambled Friday to highlight the criminal record of Tareq Yatim, the man who stabbed to death a 45-year-old father of four children in Ashrafieh, as Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun urged the state to “start deterring criminals.”

In 2012, Yatim was among those who opened fire at a motorcycle repair shop in Sidd al-Baouchrieh, killing Elie Numan and wounding two others, OTV said.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Friday reiterated his call for political forces to elect a new president, noting that the 24-member government cannot continue practicing the powers of the presidency indefinitely.

“We pray for politicians to elect a president for Lebanon, because if there is no president, we can't do anything. The parliament is not being able to perform its duties and the fate of the faltering government is in peril,” said al-Rahi as he laid the cornerstone for a religious foundation in the Qannoubine Valley.

The emir of al-Nusra Front in the Syrian Qalamoun region, Abou Malek al-Talli, has reportedly invited the families of the Lebanese hostages to visit their loved ones on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.

Family member Hussein Youssef told TV and radio stations that al-Talli asked Sheikh Mustafa al-Hujeiri to inform the relatives held captive by al-Nusra Front to head to the northeastern border town of Arsal on Saturday to meet the hostages.

The residents of the town of Naameh that lies south of Beirut and nearby areas staged on Friday a sit-in near the landfill after the last truck left the facility following the expiry of the deadline for its closure.

The trucks of Sukleen, which is responsible for collecting and transporting the garbage in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, operated early Friday backed by security forces.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is hoping that the deal struck between Iran and major powers would help resolve Lebanon's presidential stalemate, Bkirki sources said Friday.

The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that al-Rahi “has always told visiting officials that Lebanon is not an isolated island.”

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat and his son Taymour are expected to meet with French President Francois Hollande next week, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Friday.

The newspaper said that the meeting is set to take place at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday afternoon.