Lebanese authorities “forcibly returned” more than 100 Syrians to Syria on two separate flights from Beirut airport on Friday afternoon and approximately 100-150 Syrians are waiting to be “forcibly returned” on a 9:30 pm flight later tonight, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

“General Security should immediately halt the planned forcible return of Syrians from the Beirut airport to Syria later this evening,” said Haley Bobseine, Lebanon Researcher at Human Rights Watch.

A member of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch was assassinated Friday in the restive northeastern border town of Arsal, state-run National News Agency reported.

“Syrian militants belonging a terrorist group shot dead ISF First Adjutant Zaher Ezzeddine outside his house in the Arsal area of al-Babain,” NNA said.

The March 14 General Secretariat denounced on Friday what it described as a “starvation siege” in the Syrian town of Madaya, dubbing Hizbullah's role as “an act of shame.”

“The Syrian town of Madaya is witnessing a siege of starvation that amounts to crimes of war and can be classified in the category of crimes against humanity,” a March 14 alliance statement said.

Civil society activists from the 'We Want Accountability' campaign held a sit-in near the Central Inspection Bureau in Beirut demanding further details from the government on a deal that was signed with two firms to export Lebanon's trash.

Some of the activists tried to storm into the building shouting 'peaceful, peaceful' but the security forces did not allow them to do so.

Successive contacts are taking place between leaderships of the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement to arrange for a meeting between the parties' heads, which reports say are to focus on the presidential elections, An Nahar daily reported on Thursday.

The meeting between LF chief Samir Geagea and ex-chief of the FPM MP Michel Aoun is set to take place at Maarab, added the daily.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi stressed on Thursday that Hizbullah's rhetoric pushes for additional tension in the country and does not help in building a nation, the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported.

“Hizbullah's logic pushes for more hostility and does not build a country,” said Rifi in an interview with the daily.

The two firms that agreed to export Lebanon's trash are said to close the deal with the Lebanese government by the end of the current week after presenting a guarantee of $2.5 million each, al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday.

“The preliminary contracts with Britain’s Chinook Urban Mining International and Holland’s Howa BV to export the waste will be signed before the end of the week,” said the daily.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geaega voiced calls on all political groups to practice calm and premeditation at this critical stage because “our major goal is to preserve our country,” he said on Monday.

“All political factions should practice calm and forethought at this difficult stage in the history of the region, because in the end our first and foremost duty is to preserve Lebanon regardless of anything else,” said Geagea via twitter.

The security measures around the Saudi embassy were already there but were only intensified following the recent developments that accompanied the execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

“The security measures around the embassy were taken a long time ago, but the latest developments following the execution of Sheikh Nimr made us up these measures,” a security source told the daily on condition of anonymity.

Political efforts in Lebanon are said to focus on reactivating the government's work and restoring the parliamentary sessions to counter the repercussions of the regional conflict that arose lately between Saudi Arabia and Iran following the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

“At the current stage, the attention will focus on facing the repercussions of the regional crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia against the backdrop of al-Nimr's execution,” a source following up closely on the developments in Lebanon told the daily.