Diesel disappeared from the market in several regions as the fierce winter storm Windy started to lash Lebanon, mainly because of the distributors' preference to smuggle it to Syria, which prompted Economy Minister Alain Hakim to make an inspection tour on Friday and to pledge quick measures to stop what he described as a “crime.”

The scarcity of the vital petroleum product was mainly noticed in the Bekaa region, where residents rely on diesel for heating in extremely cold weather conditions.

Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri emphasized on Friday the importance of dialogue in Lebanon as a means to reach solutions to pending issues, while describing as “positive” his talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Wednesday.

He said: “The fact that dialogue with the MP took place is positive and our dialogue with him had started over a year ago.”

The Council of Maronite bishops welcomed on Friday the dialogue among the country's different factions, hoping that it would lead to the election of a new president, and urged the Lebanese to back the state at this critical stage.

The bishops hoped in a statement following their monthly meeting in Bkirki that “talks among the Lebanese political parties would be aimed at electing a head of state.”

Hizbullah rejected on Friday media reports that said Syria was seeking to assassinate detained former minister Michel Samaha.

It said in a statement: “Such claims are baseless accusations that do not rely on facts.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Friday that all political powers share the same responsibility to prevent the country from slipping into the chaos surrounding it.

“We share a common obligation to prevent” a fate similar to countries in the region, Jumblat said in a speech at the Druze Spiritual Council.

Much of Lebanon continued to shiver and suffer in bitter cold Friday as a fierce storm dumped more snow across the country.

The blizzard has closed schools and stranded people in their homes. But meteorologists predicted storm “Windy” to subside over the weekend.

The military court released on Friday an alleged fighter linked to fugitive Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.

Assem al-Arefi, who was in custody over engagement in the heavy clashes with the Lebanese army in the southern city of Sidon in 2013, was freed from custody, Voice of Lebanon Radio (100.5) reported.

Salafist Sheikh Bilal Deqmaq, who was handed over to Lebanon by Turkish authorities earlier this week, had made a $250,000 profit after selling arms in Lebanon and escaping to Turkey, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday.

Deqmaq was brought back to Lebanon on Wednesday aboard a Turkish jet and was accompanied by Turkish policemen who handed him over to Lebanese authorities.

Qatar has informed General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim that they have reached a breakthrough in the case of the Lebanese servicemen taken hostage by jihadists, As Safir daily reported on Friday.

The newspaper said Ibrahim traveled to Doha recently after Qatari officials told him that they reached a partial deal with al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.

Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayad stressed on Friday that the Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi informed a French diplomat, who is following up the presidential deadlock, that the crisis is not only linked to the Christians.

Ghayad said that al-Rahi stressed during a recent meeting with Jean-François Girault, Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry, that “the head of state is not for the Maronites and Christians alone.”