The Lebanese army raided a weapons depot in the town of Aidamoun in the northern district of Akkar and arrested six Syrians in the barren mountains near Arsal.

According to the state-run National News Agency, an army unit raided on Thursday night an army depot in the town of Aidamoun in Akkar.

The interior ministry denied on Friday a report that a woman from an Arab country was arrested by “unofficial” security personnel and jailed at Rafik Hariri International Airport.

The denial came in response to an article published in pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat this week, claiming that the woman was kept for several days in a secret jail lying several stories below the ground at the facility.

Interrogations with seven National Social Security Fund (NSSF) employees charged with the embezzlement of public funds and forgery kicked off on Friday, the state-run National News Agency reported.

According to NNA, Beirut's First Investigative Judge Ghassan Owaidat began questioning the seven suspects after he received a day earlier the financial public prosecution charges along with the investigations carried out.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee vowed on Friday to stage strikes and take to the streets if the new wage scale wasn't referred to the parliament for approval.

“We give officials one week grace period, utmost, to refer the new salary scale to the national assembly or we will return back to the streets and stage strikes,” Nehme Mahfoud, who heads the private schools teachers association, said in comments to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

The controversial debate over the telecom data renewed between the political arch-foes despite the cabinet's decision to grant security agencies access to it.

As Safir newspaper reported on Friday that the March 8 ministers – Hizbullah, Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement,- voiced objection during Thursday's session to grant the security agencies with the full access to the telecom data, arguing that it violates the privacy of people.

Interior Minister Nuhad al-Mashnouq revealed on Friday that a security plan for the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern Bekaa Valley approved by the government would be implemented “soon.”

In remarks to An Nahar newspaper, al-Mashnouq said: “The countdown has started.”

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh announced Thursday that he nominates his ally Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun for the presidency of the republic, noting that he will not run in person without Aoun's "consent."

“My name has been suggested as a possible presidential candidate but I will support General Michel Aoun and I won't accept to run in the election without General Aoun's consent,” Franjieh told LBCI television, in a weekly TV show dedicated to interviewing the major presidential candidates.

The fugitive Sami Ahmed al-Atrash died in hospital after he was critically wounded in an exchange of gunfire with an army patrol that raided his house in the Bekaa border town of Arsal on Thursday, state-run National News Agency reported.

“Atrash was wanted on multiple arrest warrants,” NNA said.

Speaker Nabih Berri will preside over a parliamentary plenary session that will begin on April 1 and end on April 3.

The legislature will convene in the morning and in the evening on those days to study and approve the draft laws and proposals that are on its agenda.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary called on Thursday to end the security chaos across the country by the implementation of a comprehensive plan, in particular in the northern city of Tripoli and along the border with Syria.

“Tension in the towns of Arsal, Akkar and Tripoli shouldn’t be left for lawlessness,” MP Ziad al-Qadri said after the lawmakers' weekly meeting at the Center House.