Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Wednesday the ongoing vacuum in the presidency, slamming Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's approach towards the polls.

He said: “We call for waging the presidential elections battle at parliament or reaching an understanding, without preconditions, with the FPM.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam said on Wednesday that France will sign over the weekend the final agreement to equip the Lebanese army with the weapons and ammunition it has ordered, as he lamented the “insufficient” international support for Lebanon.

Salam spoke upon his arrival to Paris on a four-day official visit during which he will discuss with French officials political and security issues.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri held the government responsible for ending the “siege” imposed on the northeastern border town of Arsal, calling on the army to restore the state's authority.

“The ties between villages and towns shouldn't be taken hostage by gunmen,” Hariri said via his account on Twitter.

Islamist militant Anas Sharkas, who is also known as Abu Ali al-Shishani, lashed out at the Lebanese state and accused it of collaborating with Hizbullah, calling on jihadists to move the battle into Lebanon.

Sharkas said in an interview published on Wednesday in al-Akhbar newspaper that Hizbullah “considers Iran as gods and entered Syria to murder its men and assault its women.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has denied that the much anticipated dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement would be postponed over differences on the agenda of the talks.

In remarks published in local dailies on Wednesday, Berri said: “I am 100 percent reassured and hope the first session would be held by the end of the year.”

The four Maronite leaders held separate talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, away from the media spotlight, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper reported that talks focused on the conditions of Christians and the presidential deadlock.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced Tuesday that Saja al-Dulaimi, a divorcee of Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was still in a Military Court jail, while Ola al-Oqaili, the wife of top jihadist Abu Ali al-Shishani, is “in the custody of the General Security,” retracting an earlier statement that said both women were referred to the security agency.

“The interior minister wrongfully announced that Saja al-Dulaimi and Ola al-Oqaili are in the custody of the Lebanese General Security, and the truth is that Dulaimi is still in prison after the judiciary issued an arrest warrant for her, while al-Oqaili is in the General Security's custody,” Mashnouq's office said in a statement.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday called for “direct negotiations” with the kidnappers of the Lebanese servicemen and urged “an end to the siege” of the Bekaa border town of Arsal, while stressing that ending the “presidential void” is the main topic in the upcoming dialogue with Hizbullah.

The bloc “supports the government's decision to engage in direct negotiations in the way the government and its premier believe to be appropriate and beneficial in the attempt to secure the release of the captive servicemen,” Mustaqbal said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday called for negotiating with him over “the survival of the republic,” stressing that he will not withdraw from the presidential race if there is no “key change in the practices of power.”

“The problem is not over electing a certain person as president of the republic but rather over 'electing the republic' and the survival of the republic,” Aoun told reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabieh.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat reiterated Tuesday from the Riad al-Solh Square his support for a swap deal in the case of the captive servicemen who are being held by jihadist groups.

“My stance is clear and it's similar to that of (Speaker) Nabih Berri -- I support an unconditional swap deal,” Jumblat said after a brief meeting with the families of the hostage troops and policemen in Riad al-Solh.