Maj. Gen. Michael Beary, the newly-appointed head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) held separate talks Friday in Beirut with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji, the U.N. force said.

Some cabinet ministers have threatened to suspend their participation in the cabinet meetings if Lebanon's state budget was not included on the agenda for discussion and approval “as soon as possible,” al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Friday.

“Ten ministers have formed a ministerial lobby and have met more than once and decided to suspend their participation in the cabinet meetings,” said the daily.

Director of the Tripoli Port Ahmed Tamer assured on Friday that the Turkish freight vessels that were seized for inspection and search in the port a day earlier did not contain banned cargo, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

“The authorities suspected the presence of banned materials in the shipments of the two ships that carried 54 trucks,” Tamer told NNA.

A gang of Syrian and Lebanese nationals has compiled a hit list that includes the names of ten people in the northeastern border town of Arsal, As Sharq al-Awsat daily reported on Friday.

“There are gangs comprised of Lebanese and Syrian nationals who have singled out a list of specific names that they plan to terminate, ”Arsal's municipal chief Bassel al-Hujeiri told the daily in an interview.

Hizbullah praised Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh for preventing some banking institutions from using a U.S. law against Hizbullah as a punitive tool against its supporters, al-Akhbar daily reported on Friday.

After observing the performance of the Special Investigation Commission for Fighting Money Laundering for more than a month, Hizbullah sent a letter to Salameh which included recognition of his role in curbing some banking institutions and preventing them from converting the U.S. law into a tool to punish supporters of the Resistance, said the daily.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter has warned that the country “can't afford” further presidential vacuum while denying recent claims by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq about an alleged British role in the nomination of Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency.

Hizbullah on Thursday bombarded the posts of the extremist Islamic State group in the outskirts of the eastern border town of al-Qaa, inflicting casualties, Hizbullah's Military Media reported.

Kuwait's court of appeals on Thursday upheld the death sentence to a Shiite citizen and Hizbullah member convicted of forming a pro-Iran cell and plotting attacks in the Gulf state.

Hasan Abdulhadi Ali has been a member of Hizbullah since 1996 and is "the mastermind of the cell" of 26 members who had been accused of plotting attacks, the court said.

The army took tight security measures in the seaport of Tripoli and seized two freight vessels coming from Turkey, the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday.

The army is carrying out inspection operations.

Maronite Patriarch visited the eastern border town of al-Qaa on Thursday and extended condolences to the families of the victims of the suicide bombings that rattled the town late in June.

“We are here to preserve the Christian-Muslim coexistence in the region and to confront terrorism which knows no religion,” said al-Rahi.