The Hamra area in Beirut was the scene of a major crackdown over a suspected terror plot on Friday, with security forces arresting 102 people at a number of hotels, among whom only 17 remain in custody.

“Security forces arrested 102 people during the raids that were carried out today in the Hamra area and its surroundings, after obtaining information about the presence of terrorist groups plotting to stage security acts in Beirut,” state-run National News Agency reported.

The Lebanese Army launched a campaign to apprehend members of the Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades after the arrest of several men affiliated to the group.

According to As Safir newspaper published on Friday, the army intelligence detained recently in Beirut's Tariq al-Jadeedah neighborhood a 47-year-old Syrian national identified by his initials M. R.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam called on officials on Wednesday to facilitate the election of a new president, stressing any attempts to tamper with the country's stability will be thwarted.

“The country is passing through a state of vacuum over the parliament's failure to elect a new head of state,” Salam said during his opening speech for the Arab Economic Forum held at Phoenicia InterContinental Hotel.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said that jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) would have reached Beirut had his party not sent its fighters to Syria.

“Had we not interfered in Syria at the appropriate moment, ISIL would have been in Beirut now,” he told the leaders of al-Mahdi Scouts Association during a meeting on Sunday.

A security plan set to be enforced in the capital Beirut will include the area of Bourj Hammoud, media reports said on Sunday.

An Interior Ministry source said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that “the official security plan set to be implemented in Beirut will include Bourj Hammoud, which is considered part of the capital.”

The Internal Security Forces said Saturday that it arrested a robber after catching him red-handed at a house in Beirut, but his accomplice was still on the run.

An ISF Intelligence Branch patrol apprehended M.Q. while he was robbing the home in the Ramlet al-Bayda district, claiming he was a satellite dish worker.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil has denied that he avoided to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during his visit to Beirut on Wednesday, saying he could not cancel his trip to China, which is a major investing country.

In an interview with al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Friday, Bassil said: “We were informed about Kerry's visit only 48 hours before” his arrival to Beirut.

World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim was in Beirut on Tuesday for talks with Lebanese officials on the country's economic situation and mainly a proposal to fund an electricity project, which was welcomed by Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

Al-Liwaa newspaper quoted sources as saying that Salam reacted positively to the funding that is expected to have low interests.

Hundreds of Syrians living in Lebanon have lined up outside their embassy near Beirut to vote ahead of their country's June 3 presidential election as expat balloting was extended for another day.

Expat voting in Lebanon was extended through Thursday after Syrian voters clashed with Lebanese troops outside the embassy the day before.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has said that a security plan for Beirut is expected to witness light in June as another cabinet minister stressed that no party wants to create chaos.

Al-Mashnouq told Beirut MPs that the capital will see more security measures in the coming days to arrest wrongdoers, according to al-Liwaa newspaper published on Wednesday.