The Syndicate Coordination Committee went ahead with its open ended-strike for the second week in a row by holding a sit-in near the Labor Ministry in Beirut's Shiyah district and announcing of the implementation of new escalatory measures starting Monday.

“We will implement new escalating measures starting Monday, in particular, near private schools,” head of the private school teachers association Nehme Mahfoud told protesters.

The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch has arrested a Palestinian in southern Lebanon on suspicion of collaborating with Israel, The state-run National News Agency reported Friday.

NNA said Mohammed Kamal Rahil, 29, was arrested by a patrol in the area of Burj al-Shamali in the southern district of Tyre.

A prominent Iranian security chief was present in Lebanon at the time of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan last year, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the newspaper, Brigadier “Hindawi,” one of Iran's elite Quds Force who is close to the commander of the Force General Qassem Suleimani, was in Lebanon when the assassination occurred.

Gunmen have stormed a residence in central Nigeria that housed Lebanese workers, killing two police guards in an attack a company source said Thursday was a failed kidnapping.

Police in Taraba state confirmed the raid in the village of Tella at the site owned by the Triacta engineering firm, but declined to provide details, including whether the three Lebanese engineers working there were the target.

The army deployed heavily on Friday in Abra in the southern city of Sidon as controversial Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and his supporters rallied after Friday's Muslim prayers to protest claims that Hizbullah rented apartments in the vicinity of his mosque in the town.

Al-Asir called on his supporters after the prayers to protest in the premises set by the security forces, urging them not to confront them.

Officials close to Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed that he would not support the Orthodox Gathering proposal even if he has to boycott a parliamentary session to approve it.

The sources made their remarks to An Nahar newspaper published on Friday after reports that Miqati would attend any session that Speaker Nabih Berri calls for to adopt an electoral draft-law, including the Orthodox proposal.

Speaker Nabih Berri said Friday that he was ready to hear proposals on the controversial electoral draft-law after he withdrew his hybrid plan, which became a point of contention between the March 8 majority and the March 14 opposition alliances.

In remarks to An Nahar daily, Berri said he has “now become in the position of hearing” proposals.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri was rumored to have been wounded during a visit to a town along the Lebanese Syrian border, An Nahar newspaper said on Friday.

The newspaper reported that Speaker Nabih Berri swiftly telephoned Hariri Thursday night to ask about his health.

A restaurant boat belonging to the Lebanese Club moored on the bank of Baghdad's Tigris River sank on Thursday night during a private party with 150 people on board, leaving five people dead, Iraqi officials said.

"A boat belonging to the Lebanese Club in the Karrada area sank tonight," an interior ministry official said, adding that the cause was not immediately clear.

President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati agreed on Thursday to hold the parliamentary elections on June 9.

"President Suleiman and I have agreed to sign the decree calling on the electoral bodies to hold the elections on June 9,” Miqati told LBCI television.