The families of the troops abducted by Syria-based jihadist groups on Thursday urged the kidnappers to stop threatening to kill more soldiers, as highly-informed sources said negotiations have made “slow progress.”

Prime Minister Tammam “Salam told us that the negotiations have not stopped and that the demands received by the government need some time,” Jamaa Islamiya member Ahmed al-Ayyoubi said on behalf of the families after a meeting with the premier.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea rejected on Thursday proposals that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun assume the presidency for a year or two.

He told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA): “I reject the proposal because Aoun is not the appropriate president for Lebanon at the current time due to his political agenda.”

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Jumblat and Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel discussed on Thursday an initiative to preserve state institutions, mainly the Lebanese army.

“We hope for a modest initiative to back institutions, mainly the army, and those that preserve the state and the Republic,” said Jumblat after visiting Gemayel at his residence in Bikfaya.

Four assailants in a vehicle bearing the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) drove past the Maronite Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Sydney, shouting death threats to church-goers, media reports said on Thursday.

“Four youth in an unknown car and waving the flag of ISIL drove by the church threatening church-goers with murder and with slaughtering their children,” the parish custodian, Monseigneur Shora Maree, revealed.

There are rising fears that the northern city of Tripoli will become a hub for Islamic State and al-Nusra Front fighters, who have engaged in gunbattles with the Lebanese army in a border town and beheaded two soldiers.

As Safir daily on Thursday quoted security officials as saying that extremists have been spending huge amounts of money to lure young men and encourage them to be armed.

The corpse of Sergeant Ali al-Sayyed, who was beheaded by jihadists on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, sustained two gunshots, As Safir newspaper reported on Thursday.

The daily said that it wasn't clear yet if al-Sayyed was shot before or after his decapitation.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed on Thursday that the military had all the necessary capabilities to engage in tough battles with terrorists in the northeastern border town of Arsal, revealing that the United States and France will provide the institution with further aid.

“We had the essential ammunition to engage in a long and fierce battle with the terrorists,” Qahwaji said in comments published in As Safir newspaper, denying that the army lacked the necessary equipment in the Arsal clashes.

European Union Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst said EU diplomats told Prime Minister Tammam Salam that the absence of a president was not sending the right message to the West.

“A country without a president does not send comforting messages to the international community at this particular stage,” Eichhorst told An Nahar newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.

The ruthless Islamic State jihadist group on Wednesday threatened to behead another army soldier over what it described as the Lebanese government's “lies” and “procrastination” in the negotiations over the abducted troops.

“We have been patient towards you and we have warned you, but we were confident that the decision is not in your hand and that you do not care about the soldiers who are in our custody,” the group said in a statement addressed to the government.

A number of Syrians residing in Lebanon settled their legal status Wednesday in the northern city of Tripoli after they were exempted from fines, as six Syrians were arrested in the Eastern Sidon region as part of a continuous crackdown on refugee gatherings.

“A Lebanese army force raided places inhabited by Syrian refugees in the towns of Bqusta and Karkha in Eastern Sidon,” state-run National News Agency reported.