The Lebanese Army arrested on Friday three suspects in the outskirts of al-Hermel wanted on charges of arms trafficking, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Lebanese Army Airborne Regiment and Army Intelligence agents raided early on Friday several houses in al-Shawagir neighborhood in the outskirts of Hermel, NNA said.

Head of the Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan said on Friday that the cabinet has recorded “serious and positive” progress as for introducing reforms to the draft state budget, pointing out that revenues to fund the wage scale will be incorporated in the budget.

“Serious and positive progress was recorded at the level of introducing needed reforms to the budget, which was the focus of a lengthy debate in the finance committee,” Kanaan told VDL (100.5) radio.

A new three-party panel has emerged after a previous four-party committee failed to find a new electoral law for the upcoming parliamentary elections, amid reports circulating that Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil is preparing a fresh format which he plans to suggest when all endeavors in that regard collapse, al-Akhbar daily reported on Friday.

The new panel is comprised of Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and Prime Minister Saad Hariri or director of the premier's office Nader Hariri, said the daily.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement has reportedly denied claims accusing the party of hampering an agreement on a new electoral law for the upcoming elections, al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday.

“The party is not obstructing agreements on a new law for the polls. Hizbullah wants us to choose between proportionality and proportionality,” prominent Mustaqbal sources told the daily

A U.S. military delegation is expected to arrive in Lebanon next week to discuss with the Lebanese army the repercussions of the Syrian war on Lebanon and to weigh the developments on the Lebanese-Syrian border where the army is facing militants, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander General Joseph L. Votel, is expected to make an “unusual” visit to Lebanon next week, well-informed sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.

Israel's environment ministry announced Wednesday it will not renew the license of an ammonia container in the port city of Haifa as it poses a potentially deadly threat to residents.

The container, which holds 12,000 tons of the toxic, corrosive liquid, puts the public "at a risk we cannot accept," the ministry said in a statement.

Speaker Nabih Berri extended appreciation for Iran for “supporting Lebanon in facing the Israeli occupation and its solidarity with the Army, people and the Resistance,” the National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Berri spoke from Tehran where he delivered a speech at the opening of the sixth conference in support of Palestine Intifada. He thanked “Iran for its support and help for Lebanon to face the Israeli occupation and its solidarity with the Army, people and Resistance to free all our land and oblige Israel to commit to (UN) Resolution 1701,” added NNA.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized on Tuesday statements made by visiting French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen which he dubbed as “insulting.”

“Marine Le Pen's statements in Lebanon are inappropriate and are considered an insult to both the Syrian and Lebanese people,” said Jumblat in a tweet.

France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has refused to go into a meeting with Lebanon's grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Deryan after his aides asked her to wear a headscarf.

Le Pen was scheduled to meet with Mufti Deryan as part of her three-day visit to Lebanon this week where she met senior officials.

Efforts of various political parties have failed so far to agree on a new electoral law that will govern the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled in May, which has raised fears of vacuum at the parliament.

Speaker Nabih Berri sounded the alarm on Tuesday and stressed: “The country must not be driven towards vacuum, it is unacceptable, vacuum implies that the country is no more. The constitution has stipulated that Lebanon is a democratic republic with a parliamentary system. When the parliament falls and enters into vacuum, what will be left of the republic?”