Ousama Mansour and Shadi al-Mawlawi will be evacuating in the next few hours a mosque they used to frequently go to, and that is after efforts by the clerics of Tripoli.

“During the next few hours Abdullah bin Masood mosque in Bab al-Tabbani will be evacuated,” the National News Agency said.

Kurds demonstrated on Sunday afternoon in Beirut in solidarity with the Syrian town of Kobane, which has repelled for months a siege by the Islamic State jihadist group.

The Islamic State controls about 40 percent of Kobane so far.

A shootout broke out on Sunday as the army carried out a raid against Syrian refugee encampments in the northern region of Akkar, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Syrian suspect Fouad al-Aarour was seriously wounded in the shootout that took place at the encampments on the outskirts of the town of Aidamoun.

The municipality of the northern Akkar region of Fnaideq criticized on Sunday the media campaign “aimed at tarnishing its image” in light the army defection of Abdul Qader Akkoumi, who hails from the area, reported the National News Agency.

The municipality explained in a statement that Akkoumi “suffers from mental problems and has not been part of the army for about three months.”

Speaker Nabih Berri traveled to Geneva to attend a parliamentary conference as media reports said Sunday he may make a stop in Italy to hold talks with Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

The daily An Nahar said that the speaker is set to return to Lebanon on Friday and may travel to Rome, which Hariri and al-Rahi are currently visiting.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji is scheduled to travel to the United States to attend several meetings on combating terrorism, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

It said that the military chief will participate in meetings throughout next week with leaderships specialized in counter-terrorism.

Lebanese soldier Abdul Qader Akkoumi has announced his defection to the Islamic State jihadist group, according to an internet video circulated on Saturday.

“I announce my defection from this 'apostate, crusader army',” Akkoumi says in the video as he displays his military ID in front of the camera.

The so-called ministerial crisis cell on Saturday decided to take a number of “steps” that might eventually lead to the release of troops and police abducted by jihadist groups, amid reports that they are being held hostage in an “explosive-rigged” house on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal.

After a meeting at the Grand Serail, the cell said it “discussed the situations and the latest developments in the negotiations aimed at freeing the captive security personnel.”

Members of the Hizbullah-linked Resistance Brigades on Saturday “encricled” the police station in the southern border town of Shebaa in protest at the arrest of two residents, media reports said.

“Members of political parties and others belonging to the Resistance Brigades have encircled the Shebaa police station in protest at the interrogation of Mustafa and Thaer Ghayyad,” MTV reported.

The army detained on Saturday fugitive soldier Mustapha Seif in the Wadi Nahle area in the northern port city of Tripoli's al-Beddawi neighborhood.

Media reports said that an army unit raided the residence of Seif, who is also known as Abou Alaa, and arrested him.