Five people suspected of involvement in a personal dispute that left one person dead in Aley district were handed over to the Internal Security Forces on Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said R.Gh. M.M. T.G., K.M. and A.Sh. were handed over to the Intelligence Branch, a day after the dispute that broke out in the town of Qabrshmoun turned into a gunfight and knife-stabbing.

Baalbek police arrested on Thursday Mayor Mohammed Ahmed Awada for shooting dead Ali Mohammed Youssef Awada a day earlier, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said that the man opened fire on 24-year-old Awada and killed him near Dar al-Amal University Hospital in Douris on Wednesday night.

The Lebanese army has taken strong measures in and around the southern city of Sidon after a suspect revealed that wanted Islamist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir had moved occasionally between the city and the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh.

As Safir daily said Thursday that the measures were also taken over fears that militants would carry out attacks through sleeper cells in Sidon.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has returned from Doha with pledges to revive the prisoner exchange deal between the Lebanese authorities and jihadists who have taken Lebanese servicemen captive, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Thursday.

Ibrahim, who is the official Lebanese negotiator in the case of the troops and policemen, returned to Beirut on Wednesday after a two-day visit to Qatar.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam reiterated that Lebanese lawmakers should elect a neutral president to avoid a power grab by either the March 8 or 14 alliances.

Salam told BBC television in Arabic on Wednesday that there are several candidates who have popular representation, parliamentary blocs and parties.

Speaker Nabih Berri has expressed regret that Lebanese officials failed to resolve the presidential crisis without the mediation of countries that have influence on Lebanon.

“We the Lebanese are useless,” Berri told al-Mustaqbal daily in remarks published on Thursday.

Change and Reform bloc MP Alain Aoun confirmed on Thursday a Hizbullah initiative to bridge the gap between Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

Aoun told An Nahar daily that Hizbullah's attempt to end the rift between Berri and the FPM chief is aimed at limiting tension and discussing the speaker's call for opening an extraordinary legislative session.

One person was killed and three others were injured Wednesday as a personal dispute escalated into gunfire and knife-stabbing in the Aley district town of Qabrshmoun.

State-run National News Agency said the dispute broke out over “car drifting” in the area.

Supporters of MP Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement staged a new motorized protest Wednesday evening that headed from the Baouchrieh area to Ashrafieh, a week after organizing a similar demo.

“Seventy cars carrying FPM supporters have headed in a convoy from the Mirna Chalouhi area to Ashrafieh,” state-run National News Agency reported.

The army on Wednesday announced seizing two cars filled with smuggled arms on the Riyaq-Baalbek road in the Bekaa Valley.

“An army intelligence patrol intercepted two cars filled with smuggled weapons in the town of Riyaq after clashing with the individuals who were in them,” state-run National News Agency reported, adding that a fugitive was wounded in the gunfight.