The Free Patriotic Movement is preparing to challenge the extension of the parliament's mandate, which will come into force on Tuesday.

Sources close to FPM told al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Saturday that the final challenge draft will be ready by Tuesday, when the draft-law will be published in the Official Gazette.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat held talks in the Russian capital Moscow with former Syrian National Coalition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Saturday, the meeting between Jumblat and Khatib was held at the headquarters of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

A French jihadist has described in court documents his path from the suburbs of Paris to Lebanon's capital Beirut where he was planning an attack on Shiite Muslims.

Fayez Yusef Bushran, originally from the Comoros islands, disclosed his journey in court documents seen by Agence France-Presse on Friday. He is also charged with membership of the Islamic State group (IS) and preparing a suicide bomb attack.

The Lebanese army on Friday allowed Red Cross medics to treat a number of wounded people in the Syrian heights of Mount Hermon near the Lebanese town of Shebaa, despite a decision taken by the government last month not to accept any more refugees from the neighboring country.

“The Lebanese army allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross to treat seven wounded Syrians in the heights of Mount Hermon,” Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted a security source as saying.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan condemned on Friday the rise of Islamic extremism in the region, highlighting the importance of Muslim-Christian ties.

He said: “Any attack against Christians is tantamount to an attack against us.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat announced Friday that Russia is “concerned” over the failure to elect a new president in Lebanon, following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

“I explained to Lavrov that we failed to elect a president due to some political disputes and he expressed his concern over the issue,” Jumblat said in remarks to Al-Arabiya television.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Friday raised the voice against the continued failure to elect a new president for the country, especially after the parliament voted to extend its own term, stressing that “this unsound situation is unacceptable.”

“The harm against Christians is failure to elect a president and we cannot accept this unsound situation,” said Salam at a conference titled “Family and the Current Challenges in the Middle East”, which was held at the International Center for Dialogue of Civilizations in Rabweh.

Acts of sabotage and armed violence have been on the rise in recent weeks in the Bekaa border town of Arsal, where gunmen are trying to "take back the town to the atmosphere of August 2."

"Since three days, masked gunmen have been shooting at surveillance cameras in the main and side streets and public squares of Arsal,” state-run National News Agency reported on Friday.

Mustaqbal bloc MP Robert Fadel announced on Friday that he will be donating his monthly salary as a lawmaker to combat poverty in the northern city of Tripoli, following the example of Kataeb Party MP Sami Gemayel who made a similar announcement on Thursday.

He said in a statement: “Poverty has started to act as a direct threat to civil peace.”

First Military Examining Magistrate Judge Riyad Abu Ghida issued on Friday indictments against several foreigners and Lebanese who plotted to carry out terrorist attacks in Lebanon.

Abu Ghida indicted a Frenchman, originally from the Comoros islands, who was arrested in June during a raid on the Napoleon Hotel in Beirut's Hamra district.