The Lebanese army tightened security measures on Tuesday in the northeastern border town of Arsal, media reports said.

Speaker Nabih Berri assured that several meetings between various political parties will be held ahead of a cabinet meeting on Thursday to agree on a new electoral law, as he urged Prime Minister Saad Hariri to assume responsibility, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Tuesday.

Visitors to Berri quoted the Speaker as saying: “It is certain that many meetings will be held. But more importantly is they be held within the government. Prime Minister Saad Hariri must assume his responsibilities in this regard. In any case there will be no vote (on a new electoral law) in the cabinet. The election law can only be reached in conformity.”

The number of militants spread out in some of Lebanon's outskirts have remarkably dwindled due to the army's measures, which makes any military operation to entirely liberate the outskirts much easier than before, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

Security and intelligence reports said the number of militant groups has decreased significantly because of the Lebanese army's siege, in addition to members who get killed as the result of army shelling. Reports have shown that no more than 500 militant fighters still exist on the outskirts which makes a military action against them much easier than before, said the daily.

Seven grenade bomb explosions were heard in the southern refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh late on Sunday and early on Monday without any casualties being reported, the National News Agency reported.

One grenade exploded at 10:30 pm on Sunday inside the said camp at the junction of the vegetable market in Hay al-Tiri. It was followed by another bomb after almost one hour, NNA said.

Speaker Nabih Berri affirmed adherence to a new electoral law format he presented last week, stressing that he “will not change one single character,” in his proposal, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

“I suggested the format being the best way out. It is in their hands and I adhere to it as it is. I will not change one single character,” Berri told his visitors on Sunday.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri marked Labor Day on Monday assuring that the Lebanese government has already begun taking a series of measures to reduce competition for the Lebanese labor market.

Drivers of pickup trucks staged a “symbolic” sit-in on Saturday in the northern district of Akkar protesting the competition from Syrians, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said the drivers protested the spiking hiring of Syrian drivers to transport agricultural produce from Bekaa and Akkar to other Lebanese regions.

Russian ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin stressed on Saturday that Lebanon must stage the parliamentary elections and pointed out that an electoral law is up for the Lebanese to decide.

“We insist on the issue of staging the parliamentary elections, but the draft of an electoral law is an internal Lebanese affair,” said the ambassador in an interview to VDL (100.5).

Efforts to reach a consensual electoral law to rule Lebanon's upcoming parliamentary polls continue but without any foreseeable results, al-Joumhouria daily said on Saturday.

Each political party "washes its hands of failure" to agree on a new law while maintaining adamant positions and distances itself from the complexity of the situation, which complicates things even further and obstructs an agreement, it added.

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, the political assistant of Speaker Nabih Berri, refrained from attending what was described as an unprecedented meeting between various political parties over an electoral law, and that Berri is annoyed with the parties and their handling of his suggestion of an electoral law format, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

The daily said that “Khalil's absence came upon Berri's request as an expression of dissatisfaction with how his latest law proposal was handled by the political parties.”