The General Security in Mount Lebanon arrested on Friday a group of three drug dealers in the Blat-Jbeil neighborhood north of Beirut, the National News Agency reported.

Based on an order by the competent judiciary, the General Security staged raids after midnight on a house in the neighborhood of Blat-Jbeil and arrested three individuals, two men and a female, active in the drug trade, NNA said.

Speaker Nabih Berri revealed that he has completed drafting two formats one for an electoral law based on proportional representation, and another “integrated” for establishing a senate, and that he handed them to the various political parties and kept their contents secret pending their positions, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Thursday five Lebanese with involvement with the Islamic State militant group, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said the suspects, two of whom were already in detention, were charged for taking part in security and military operations in favor of the IS.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized on Thursday Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq for being “unruffled” by the road accidents and the latest road-blocking strike that paralyzed traffic in various Lebanese regions and left drivers stranded in vehicles for hours.

“The Interior Minister is unruffled while running the safety of roads, road accidents and the truck owners strike. As if he lives in the arctic,” said Jumblat in a sarcastic tweet on Thursday.

For the second day in a row, truck owners started rallying on several roads around Lebanon early on Thursday to protest Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq's decision to shut down sand mining and stone crushing sites, as citizens fear that the bizarre Wednesday scenario of road-blocking could be repeated.

According to the Traffic Management Center, truckers gathered on the Safra highway, Dora-Karantina highway, Zahrani highway and the Khalde-Beirut highway near the Costa Brava.

A massive explosion that struck near Damascus International Airport early on Thursday setting off large fires, was reportedly the result of an Israeli strike that targeted a Hizbullah military base, media reports said.

The blast was outside the airport itself. It was not immediately clear whether it was the result of an air strike or a ground attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Hizbullah is exerting efforts to convince Speaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat of the so-called qualification electoral system that has been proposed by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, a media report said on Wednesday.

President Michel Aoun said on Tuesday the Lebanese must adhere to their right to choose their representatives at the parliament, otherwise Lebanon would become a “totalitarian regime,” the National News Agency reported.

“We will be in a totalitarian regime shall the Lebanese relinquish their right in electing lawmakers at the parliament,” said Aoun, addressing a delegation from the Administrative Decentralization Committee led by Lawyer Antonio al-Hashem.

The National Social Security Fund employees held a sit-in on Tuesday in Riad al-Solh Square in Beirut, protesting two articles in the recently approved state budget which they say destabilizes the monetary resources of the institution.

The workers protest was held under the title of “Protecting the NSSF” and coincided with a meeting of the Parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee.

An extended four-party meeting held at the Center House Sunday evening failed to record a breakthrough agreement on a new electoral law for Lebanon's parliamentary polls, as Hizbullah party “mourned” a law format suggested by the Progressive Socialist Party, media reports said on Tuesday.

“The meeting was held in the presence of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, Hizbullah secretary-general's political aide Hussein Khalil and Hariri's chief of staff Nader Hariri,” al-Joumhouria daily reported.