Qatar has informed General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim that they have reached a breakthrough in the case of the Lebanese servicemen taken hostage by jihadists, As Safir daily reported on Friday.

The newspaper said Ibrahim traveled to Doha recently after Qatari officials told him that they reached a partial deal with al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.

Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayad stressed on Friday that the Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi informed a French diplomat, who is following up the presidential deadlock, that the crisis is not only linked to the Christians.

Ghayad said that al-Rahi stressed during a recent meeting with Jean-François Girault, Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry, that “the head of state is not for the Maronites and Christians alone.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun reiterated on Friday that a decision to extend the term of more than 20 officers in different posts “violates the adopted norms.”

“Some (politicians) are using a political rhetoric and intentions instead of referring to the law and the constitution,” Aoun said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri criticized certain parties for claiming that they back the implementation of the Constitution on the cabinet mechanism yet they don't act accordingly.

“Why does this stance does not match with the facts on the ground?” Berri wondered in remarks published in As Safir daily on Friday.

The “good and comforting” meeting Wednesday between al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun did not tackle the stalled presidential vote but it will reflect positively on the work of government, media reports said on Thursday.

“After the previous dialogue between the FPM and al-Mustaqbal movement contributed to the formation of the cabinet, the outcome of the Center House meeting will soon materialize in the cabinet and its work,” a source who attended the meeting told LBCI TV.

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri revealed Thursday that the cabinet will resume its meetings “soon”, stressing that any anti-terror strategy can only be implemented “through the army and legitimate security forces.”

“The government will resume its work soon, in light of the contacts I made with Prime Minister Tammam Salam,” Hariri said during a Center House meeting with Arab ambassadors to Lebanon.

Judge Ivana Hrdličková of the Czech Republic has been elected President of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon that is probing ex-PM Rafik Hariri's assassination, the STL announced on Wednesday.

She succeeds Judge David Baragwanath of New Zealand.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi revealed Thursday that the Vatican is exerting major efforts to end the presidential vacuum in Lebanon, as he hailed the recent rapprochement between Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

“The Vatican spares no chance or effort with all countries for the sake of the election of a new president in Lebanon,” al-Rahi said at Beirut's airport upon his return from Rome.

Fierce winter storm “Windy” tightened its grip Thursday on Lebanon, causing a significant drop in temperatures and heavy rains on the coast as snow blanketed mountains and reached areas only 300 meters above sea level and the shores in some coastal regions.

The vehement weather prompted Education Minister Elias Bou Saab to order a closure of private and public schools on Friday and Saturday. Health Minister Wael Abou Faour for his part announced that nurseries will close on Friday.

Former President Michel Suleiman has accused Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement of launching “campaigns” against him, reiterating that the Baabda Declaration is the solution to the country's crises.

“Where can Hizbullah employ its victory in Lebanon? The solution is to implement the Baabda Declaration, devise a defense strategy and equip the army,” Suleiman said in excerpts of an interview with al-Massira magazine, calling on Hizbullah to immediately withdraw its fighters from Syria, where they are fighting alongside the regime against an Islamist-led revolt.