An 11-year-old boy was killed on Wednesday afternoon as intense sniper activity was recorded in the northern city of Tripoli.

The clashes renewed after a resident from the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood was killed when unknown assailants opened fire at him near al-Ridani bakery in the northern city, according to the state-run National News Agency.

Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb lamented on Wednesday that the ministry had not been abiding by legal procedures before he took his post, promising to implement a law on the liberalization of the telecom sector.

During a press conference he held to announce his program during the short term of Premier Tammam Salam's cabinet, Harb said he was surprised that law 431, which had been adopted in 2002, was “placed in the drawers” of the ministry.

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab condemned on Wednesday the school beating incident that was reported on Tuesday, saying that such actions are forbidden at schools.

He said during a press conference: “We will take the harshest punishments against anyone beating a student.”

Speaker Nabih Berri called on Wednesday for a three-day parliamentary session next week to tackle a jammed agenda.

The three-day session will also address the new wage scale “if the joint parliamentary committees wrapped up its discussions on the matter ahead of the general assembly meeting.

Arab leaders lauded on Wednesday the role of the Lebanese armed forces, stressing the importance to consolidate their capabilities to reach stability in the country.

The closing statement of the two-day Arab League summit held in Kuwait also vowed full support to the Lebanese state and called for the necessary political and economic support to preserve its security and stability and sovereignty on all its territories.

The Israeli army staged at dawn on Wednesday military drills in the occupied Shebaa Farms and boosted security along the border with Lebanon.

According to the state-run National News Agency, Israeli drones flew over the Shebaa farms during the military exercises.

The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad informed its allies in Lebanon the need to prevent any attempts to stage the presidential elections in the country, the Saudi Okaz newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper quoted sources close to the regime as saying that “carrying out the presidential elections in Lebanon should be linked to the run for presidency in the neighboring country.”

A three-member committee formed by Speaker Nabih Berri is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to come up with a roadmap for its talks with political parties on the presidential polls, two MPs from his parliamentary bloc said.

MP Ali Osseiran, who is a member of the committee made up from Development and Liberation bloc lawmakers, said: “We will meet today to specify the roadmap for our tour on political parties to guarantee a quorum for a parliamentary session” to elect a new president.

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said on Wednesday that the party's chief Samir Geagea is candidate to the presidency, pointing out that the party will soon announce the principles that it will adopt to communicate with its March 14 allies.

“The Lebanese Forces is seriously mulling to endorse Geagea's candidacy,” LF deputy chief Adwan said in an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper.

Only a full-scale Israeli ground offensive will defeat Hizbullah in the event of another war similar to the 2006 conflict between them, a high-ranking Israeli army official has said.

“It’s clear to the general staff that a ground maneuver is what’s needed” to confront the threat of rocket attacks, the official, who was not named, told the Jerusalem Post daily in remarks published on Wednesday.