Five people were injured on Thursday when Syrian warplanes raided the mountains surrounding the northeastern border town of Arsal, the state-run National News Agency said.

The sounds of explosions were heard in areas far from the region, NNA said.

The cabinet approved on Thursday a security plan for the northern city of Tripoli and areas bordering Syria as President Michel Suleiman said a solution to the fighting and repeated attacks was urgently needed.

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour told reporters that the cabinet approved the recommendations of the Higher Defense Council on a security plan in Tripoli and Bekaa valley's northern areas.

The cabinet postponed on Thursday tackling the controversial issue of changing the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau into an independent branch and the extension of the tenure of the Central Bank Chief Riad Salameh's deputies.

During its first session after Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet gained the parliamentary vote of confidence, which was headed by President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace, the ministers decided to postpone debating the two issues to the upcoming session.

The Lebanese army carried out raids in the northern city of Tripoli on Thursday after a soldier was killed in a drive-by shooting, the military and a radio station said.

The army said in a communique that two masked men riding a motorcycle killed Fadi al-Jubaili, an army warrant officer, at around 6:15 am after opening fire on him in the area of Boulevard.

The United Nations Security Council held a meeting to discuss the implementation of resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah and the upcoming presidential elections in Lebanon.

The meeting, which was held in the form of closed-door consultations, stressed the need to stage the upcoming presidential elections, An Nahar newspaper reported on Thursday.

Speaker Nabih Berri denied that a three-member committee from his parliamentary bloc will inquire the political parties on their presidential candidate, saying he did not have any preferred candidate so far.

In remarks to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Thursday, Berri said the committee, which is made up of MPs Ali Osseiran, Michel Moussa and Yassine Jaber, will discuss with the representatives of parties the appropriate atmosphere to have a quorum in the parliamentary session to elect a new president.

The internal and regional conditions are “suitable” for holding the presidential elections, president Michel Suleiman assured on Wednesday.

"The rotation of power is a sign of stability,” Suleiman told the Egyptian state news agency MENA, after holding talks with Egypt's Coptic pope Tawadros II at the Baabda Palace.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced that he is a “natural” candidate for presidency, vowing to withdraw Hizbullah's forces from neighboring Syria if he was elected the next head of state.

"I am naturally a candidate for presidency since I am the head of the most popular Christian party in Lebanon according to polls,” Geagea said in an interview on Al-Arabiya television that aired on Wednesday.

The General Prosecution charged on Wednesday a number of National Social Security Fund (NSSF) employees with the embezzlement of funds, reported the National News Agency.

Employees tasked with operations at the Fund and others from its inspection bureau were charged by deputy General Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr on Wednesday ordered convicting 21 people in the case of the double blast that targeted two mosques in the northern city of Tripoli last summer.

Among the convicted were Arab Democratic Party leader Ali Eid and the head of the pro-Syria Islamic Tawhid Movement-Command Council, Sheikh Hashem Minkara.