At least nine people were killed on Thursday in ongoing clashes between the rival Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, as different caliber mortars in addition to flare bombs were introduced to the battle for the first time.

The fighting intensified as the night fell on the city after intermittent clashes throughout the day, amid several futile attempts to reach a ceasefire.

Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano expressed support on Thursday to Lebanon, stressing that his country is keen to fortify its role through its contingent in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

“Italy will continue to play a positive role to support Lebanon and help it resolve the conditions of the refugees,” Lebanon's Ambassador to Italy Charbel Estephan quoted Napolitano as saying during a ceremony to present his credentials.

Rival parties are holding consultations on the duration of the extension of parliament's mandate at a time when security incidents throughout the country are threatening to spiral out of control and amid conditions set by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

Zahle MP Nicolas Fattoush, who is also a caretaker minister, proposed on Wednesday a draft-law to extend the legislature's term for two years until June 20, 2015.

A dinner banquet for current and former premiers will be held on Friday night at the residence of Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri, al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper published on Thursday, the dinner banquet is the first-of-its-kind to be hosted by the ambassador.

Top leaders from the March 14 alliance have held a meeting to discuss the cabinet formation efforts and the parliamentary elections crisis, An Nahar daily reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said that the meeting, which was held on Tuesday and attended by al-Mustaqbal, the Lebanese Forces, the Phalange party and March 14 independent figures, was chaired by al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora.

World powers denounced on Thursday the "flagrant intervention" in Syria by Hizbullah and Iranian fighters, urging their immediate withdrawal from the war-torn country.

In a joint statement, the Friends of Syria group "called for the immediate withdrawal of Hizbullah, fighters from Iran, and other regime allied foreign fighters from Syrian territory."

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Thursday that his cabinet can't pay Lebanon's share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon funding.

“The caretaker cabinet can't be responsible for the matter as it falls under current expenditure,” Miqati said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.

France is to call for the military arm of Hizbullah to be added to an EU terror blacklist due to its backing of the Syrian regime, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday.

"Because of the decisions that have been taken by Hizbullah and the fact that they are fighting very harshly the Syrian population, we have decided to ask that the military branch of the Hizbullah would be considered as a terrorist organization," Fabius told reporters in English.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday announced that his party will vote for the hybrid draft electoral law proposed by al-Mustaqbal Movement, the LF and the Progressive Socialist Party in any plenary parliamentary session, accusing Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun of “committing a crime” by returning to the 1960 law.

“We were the ones who suggested the Orthodox Gathering proposal and the committee met with all leaders and when all parties rejected the proposal, we shelved it,” Geagea said of the controversial draft electoral law, under which each sect would elect its own MPs.

France accused the Syrian regime on Wednesday of trying to transfer the ongoing civil war in Syria to neighboring countries, particularly to Lebanon.

"We are very concerned about the violent activities taking place in the northern city of Tripoli,” Spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry Philippe Lalliot expressed.