Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi warned on Sunday against “tampering with the presidential elections,” hoping that a strong president would be elected.

He urged during his Sunday sermon Speaker Nabih Berri to hold parliamentary sessions in order to determine the characteristics of the new president.

The army kicked off on Saturday preliminary measures to begin implementing in the northern and central Bekaa a security plan similar to the one executed in the northern city of Tripoli, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

It said that the army's removal of Hizbullah checkpoints between the regions of Baalbek and al-Hermel and in Arsal is the first sign of the implementation of the plan.

The presidential elections are unlikely to be held in Lebanon given the situations on the regional and international scenes, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anba daily on Sunday.

Diplomatic sources told the daily that the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam is likely to assume a caretaker role and take over the duties of the president should the elections be postponed.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi called on Hizbullah on Saturday to reevaluate its decisions and "return to the Lebanese state."

"We must benefit from the new regional and international developments to get our country out of the Syria war,” Rifi stressed in an interview with MTV.

A group of renters in the Beirut neighborhood of Ashrafieh blocked the streets leading to Sassine Square in the area on Saturday afternoon, protesting the new rent law.

The protesters took to the streets to call for a “fair bill.”

The army defused on Saturday a bomb placed on a car wheel in the town of Sheikh Taba in the northern region of Akkar.

"Hatem Zahraman reported on Saturday morning that a suspicious object was placed on the wheel of his Honda Accord in Sheikh Taba,” a communique released by the military institution said.

A tensed atmosphere was reported in Roumieh prison on Saturday afternoon, after an inmate died of “health problems.”

"Inmate Hussein Abdullah Sbaity has died of ailment in Roumieh,” the state-run National News Agency said.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Saturday warned of vacuum in the presidency, considering that it would drag Lebanon into “a difficult and critical phase.”

He also called on local factions to communicate with Hizbullah regarding the party's involvement in the ongoing Syrian war.

Army troops on Saturday carried out raids in several neighborhoods in the northern city of Tripoli, as part of the security plan which implementation kicked off on Tuesday to restore calm and stability in the North.

"Troops raided the Hara Barranieh and Souq al-Qamh regions in Tripoli,” radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) said.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq revealed on Saturday that the security plan adopted to restore stability in the northern city of Tripoli will be also implemented in northern Bekaa, and later in Beirut.

He also assured that there are no unofficial checkpoints or armed forces anymore on the roads of Baalbek and Hermel in the Bekaa.