Six rings specialized in smuggling Captagon pills have been uncovered after security forces thwarted an attempt to smuggle a quantity of the illegal substance via the Rafik Hariri International Airport, the Internal Security Forces announced on Saturday.

"The inspection unit at the airport managed to thwart an attempt to smuggle over 8,200 Captagon pills that weighed around one kilo and a half on July 20,” the ISF General Directorate announced on Saturday.

A parliament session was held on Saturday in order to express Lebanon's solidarity with the Palestinian Gaza Strip and the Iraqi city of Mosul.

The session was chaired by Speaker Nabih Berri and attended by the majority of political blocs.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed on Saturday the military's readiness to protect Lebanon against local and foreign threats.

He emphasized ahead of Army Day that the army is prepared to protect Lebanon's southern border and deploy to confront Israel.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam expressed his satisfaction with the cabinet's recent session during which it resolved a number of pending social and security issues, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

He told the daily: “We decided to assume our responsibilities by resolving pressing issues through consensus.”

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour revealed that discussions are underway over extending the term of parliament for a second time, reported An Nahar daily on Saturday.

He told the daily: “It does not seem that the parliamentary elections will be held any time soon.”

An expanded meeting aimed at tackling the persecution of Christians in the Iraqi city of Mosul will be held at the summer seat of the Maronite Patriarchate in Diman in August, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will chair the meeting scheduled for August 7, revealed Bishop Boulos Sayyah to the Central News Agency.

Tension prevailed on Friday on the Lebanese-Syrian border near the Arsal plains, where clashes are ongoing between Hizbullah fighters and gunmen in the region.

LBCI television reported that a Syrian MiG aircraft fired three rockets at Arsal's al-Rahweh region on Friday evening.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday said that Lebanon has become a “prison without walls” where there is no security or authority due to the factional “interests” of some political parties, hitting out at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun without naming them.

“These days, I'm avoiding to talk politics in order to avoid repetitiveness, but this doesn't mean resigning from politics but rather maintaining our firm stances, because endurance is sometimes more important than action,” Geagea said at a Maarab rally marking the ninth anniversary of his release from prison.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah pledged on Friday to do everything his party perceives as a “duty” to help the Palestinian resistance in the face of Israeli atrocities, considering also that fighters in Gaza have emerged victorious from the ongoing war.

“We tell our brothers in Gaza we are with you and beside you and we will do anything that we perceive is a duty in all fields,” Nasrallah said in a speech he gave at the annual celebration of Quds Day at the Sayyed al-Shuhada complex in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Unknown assailants opened fire on Friday at an army position in the eastern Bekaa region of Arsal, reported the National News Agency.

It said that the gunmen attacked the army post in the outskirts of Arsal at dawn on Friday.