The Lebanese Army said on Thursday that security measures undertaken by it reduced the occurrence of suicide attacks in the country and led to the arrest of prominent fugitives.

“The intensified security measure undertaken by the army units across the country reduced significantly the occurrence car bombings,” the army said in a communique issued by the army command.

Visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said Thursday that his country was keen on supporting Lebanon to confront the crisis of the Syrian refugees.

“No state has ever confronted what Lebanon is facing,” Niinisto said during a joint conference with his Lebanese counterpart at Baabda Palace.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi held on Thursday telephone conversations with Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Tammam Salam on the dispute over the cabinet's policy statement, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said al-Rahi urged both Berri and Salam to exert stronger efforts to find a solution to the policy statement row between the March 8 and March 14 alliances.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc stressed on Thursday that the new government should protect Lebanon from the impact of the Syrian crisis and be able to stage the presidential elections in May.

It said after its weekly meeting: “The policy statement must not ignore the Baabda Declaration.”

There was panic in a town in the northern Akkar district on Thursday after the death of a boy suffering from breathing problems as ten similar cases were recorded, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said Hassan M. died two days ago at a hospital in the region after he had difficulty breathing and a high fever.

Rain water flooded homes and property in Minieh region north Lebanon on Thursday as the stormy weather in Lebanon kept on the rise.

The heavy rains rendered the area of Minieh as water deluged houses, warehouses and besieged residents, causing damage to private property, and submerging vehicles.

Three family members were killed at dawn Thursday after their house in the Metn district was hit by a lightning, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Habib al-Sbealani, 77, his 72-year-old sister Youssfiyeh and his daughter Rosette, 40, died when the lightning bolt caused the explosion of a gas canister at their house in the area of Mar Chaaya, NNA said.

Head of the international tribunal's defense office Francois Roux expressed hope on Thursday that the Lebanese authorities and the new cabinet would fully cooperate with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, in particular his team.

“We will see if cooperation with the new government will be fruitful... So far I'm hearing positive remarks,” Roux said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper.

Head of the private schools teachers association Nehme Mahfoud said on Thursday that the Syndicate Coordination Committee will stage a protest to defend Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet.

“The SCC will carry out a demonstration to defend Salam's government and to prevent vacuum at the executive authority,” Mahfoud said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper.

Electricity du Liban officials have warned that the government's failure to legitimize the release of funds by the finance ministry to buy fuel oil would have detrimental effects on electricity.

The officials, who were not named, told al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published on Thursday that the issue should be resolved within a week because the fuel oil available for the state-run EDL would be depleted.