Security forces inspected the vicinity of the Saudi Embassy in Beirut's posh Qoraitem neighborhood on Thursday after a hoax bomb threat against the mission, the Internal Security Forces general-directorate said.

It said College Protestant Francais, which lies near the mission, received a phone call at around 11:15 am claiming that a bomb was planted near one of the buildings abutting the embassy.

The nephew of Caretaker Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan has been killed along with three other Hizbullah fighters in Syria's Qalamoun region, a source close to the party said on Thursday.

"Ali Rida Fouad Hajj Hassan, aged 22, was killed along with three other Hizbullah fighters in Qalamoun" north of Damascus on Wednesday, the source told Agence France Presse.

A large-scale meeting was held on Thursday at the parliament to brief foreign diplomats and Lebanese politicians on the recently established Israeli spying stations along its border with Lebanon.

The meeting, according to head of the committee Hizbullah MP Hassan Fadlallah, was held to discuss the dangers of the Israeli spying operations on Lebanon.

The Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp that lies near the southern city of Sidon is witnessing an unprecedented mobilization of militants, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Thursday.

Fatah al-Islam and Jund al-Sham are no longer active, it said, adding that the new terrorist groups linked to al-Qaida are Jabhat al-Nusra and Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

The Army Intelligence launched recently a crackdown on “terrorist” cells in the middle and west Bekaa that support armed Syrian opposition groups, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.

According to a report published in the daily, the army intelligence is raiding several towns in the middle and west Bekaa, where wanted suspects took shelter.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Thursday that Qatar pledged to offer the Lebanese government direct funds to aid Syrian refugees on Lebanese territories.

Miqati said in comments published in As Safir newspaper that Doha will continue also to cooperate with international and humanitarian organizations to contribute in improving the conditions of the refugees.

Two firefighters were injured on Thursday as several firefighting engines struggled to control a huge blaze that gutted the Forum de Beyrouth, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The fire, which erupted in the early morning rush hour, caused heavy traffic on the Dora-Karantina highway where the center lies.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has said Qatari officials informed him that they were exerting strong efforts to win the release of two bishops kidnapped in Syria.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published on Thursday, Charbel said the officials stressed to him that Doha was working with persistence to resolve the case of Bishops Youhanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi, who were kidnapped by armed men in Syria in April.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Thursday that any consensus between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia would reflect Lebanon positively, denying that he was asked to mediate between the two countries.

“The Iranian leadership is wise and knows what it wants and what benefits its people and the region,” Berri said in comments published in local newspapers.

Pope Francis has named Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi as a member of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The Maronite Patriarchate's secretariat said al-Rahi was appointed on November 9, noting that he will occupy the post for a period of five years.