Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), is expected to arrive in Beirut on Friday leading a “large” delegation of senior aides, al-Joumhouria daily reported Wednesday.

Votel’s visit carries a “special significance,” and comes after the Rome II conference that was held on March 14 and 15, dedicated to strengthening the capabilities of the Lebanese army, security and military services, said the daily.

Fears have started mounting after reports alleging that numerous violations against the electoral law were detected, in addition to “clientelist vote buying and abuse of government resources,” as the country gears up for its first general elections in nine years, media reports said Tuesday.

Dispute between AMAL Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement resurfaced again to “unprecedented levels,” following statements made by Foreign Minister and FPM chief Jebran Bassil during an electoral campaign visit to Lebanon’s (Shiite majority) South area over the weekend, Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat reported Tuesday.

After the Western strike on Syria at dawn on Saturday, President Michel Aoun said the attack "will not contribute" to a political solution for the Syrian crisis, stressing that Lebanon “refuses hostility against Arab states no matter what the reasons were.”

The AMAL Movement politburo issued a statement Saturday, condemning the joint Western attack at Syria, and describing it as “flagrant violation of international law, and a blatant attack on the Syrian state, the founding member of the United Nations.”

Lebanese movement Hizbullah sharply condemned the barrage of US, French, and British air strikes on its ally Syria on Saturday, saying they would not achieve their objectives. 

Night air strikes conducted by the United States, Britain and France on Syria on Saturday could easily be heard in Lebanon’s border region in Bekaa, LBCI television reported.

Residents of border areas near Syria said they were able to hear the blasts and shelling through the night.

Israel's strike on a Syrian airbase this week has put it in direct confrontation with regional foe Iran, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Friday. 

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq met on Friday with the EU's head of mission for electoral monitoring Elena Valenciano, in the presence of EU Ambassador Christina Lassen where talks focused on the logistic and technical preparations for the parliamentary elections, the National News Agency reported.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri marked on Friday Lebanon’s 43rd civil war anniversary saying "lessons must be drawn" that lack of implementing legitimacy and disrespect for national coexistence are a “way to hell”