Prime Minister Tammam Salam has stressed that he will not resign despite growing political and environmental crises that are threatening to spiral out of control.

According to the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily published on Thursday, Salam told religious officials and diplomats that the country's political situation is grave but that he would not announce his resignation.

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat has allegedly expressed readiness to accept the dumping of around 2,000 tons out of 2,500 tons of waste in Dahr al-Baydar in return for stashing the rest of the garbage in the districts of Metn and Kesrouan.

Al-Akhbar daily said Thursday that 3,000 tons of waste are collected from Beirut, its suburbs, and the districts of Shouf, Aley, Baabda, Kesrouan and Metn daily. Sukleen treats around 500 tons while the rest are dumped in landfills.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has urged his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif to exert efforts to end Lebanon's presidential crisis, informed sources said.

The Iranian sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published on Thursday that Fabius told Zarif about the importance of contacting Lebanese parties that are allied with Iran to urge them to find a solution to the deadlock.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has sought to reassure worried lawmakers on the nuclear deal with Iran and stressed that the Islamic Republic and its proxies, including Hizbullah, continue to be a threat.

Iran and its proxies still present security challenges, Carter said on Wednesday at a committee hearing as part of the White House's aggressive campaign to convince Congress to back the Iranian nuclear deal, which calls on Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

A Lebanese man was kidnapped on Wednesday after being “lured” to the border with Syria, state-run National News Agency reported.

“Lebanese national Khalil Faddoul was abducted after unknown individuals lured him to an area on the Lebanese-Syrian border,” NNA said.

Two sit-ins were held Wednesday to protest the arrest of four anti-trash demonstrators over the interception of the car of Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas during a Tuesday march.

In the morning, activists and friends of the four young men held a sit-in outside the Justice Palace while in the evening a rally was held outside the nearby Social Affairs Ministry. The protesters later marched to the Justice Ministry building.

Army officer Major Rabih Kahil died in hospital Wednesday after succumbing to wounds sustained in a shooting in the Aley District town of Bdadoun.

A statement issued by the Army Command said Kahil was “shot by a criminal as he was passing in the Bdadoun area on July 26.”

Ten Syrian army defectors were arrested Wednesday in the northern Bekaa town of al-Labweh, state-run National News Agency reported.

“Lebanese army intelligence agents arrested around 10 Syrian defectors at the Ain al-Shaab checkpoint in the town of al-Labweh,” NNA said.

A member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command was killed in a blast in the central Bekaa region, reported the National News Agency on Wednesday.

It said that six members of the PFLP-GC were wounded in the explosion, one critically.

An Israeli air strike on a government-held village on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights ceasefire line killed five pro-regime forces, including two Hizbullah members, a monitoring group said on Wednesday.

"An Israeli plane hit a car inside the town of Hader, killing two men from Hizbullah, and three men from the pro-regime popular committees in the town," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.