The Internal Security Forces clamped down on a gang of drug dealers in the Mount Lebanon town of Shanay, the ISF announced on Thursday.

ISF said in a statement it obtained information about a group of people suspected of drug dealing in Mount Lebanon governorate.

In light of lingering conflict between President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri over the seniority decree, Hizbullah said it will not engage in mediation between the two men but believes that Prime Minister Saad Hariri is the man for the job, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

“We are not in the right place to play a mediator role,” an unnamed Hizbullah official told the daily.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Wednesday described a disputed decree issued by President Michel Aoun as unnecessary, throwing his support behind Speaker Nabih Berri in the ongoing spat.

“The disputed decree was unnecessary, but now that the decree has been issued, there is no need to isolate Speaker (Nabih) Berri and consequently a major sect,” Jumblat said in an interview on Future TV.

Lebanon's complex new electoral law, which is based on proportional representation for the first time in the country's history, reflects “the true will of citizens,” President Michel Aoun announced on Wednesday.

“The parliamentary elections will be held on time according to a new electoral system that reflects the true will of citizens,” Aoun told a French Senate delegation.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday insisted that the upcoming parliamentary elections will be held on time and that he would confront any attempt to postpone the polls.

“Some are trying to raise and stir some dilemmas” regarding the electoral law's technicalities and implementation, Berri told lawmakers during the weekly Ain el-Tineh meeting, while stressing that the perceived attempts will not manage to thwart the elections.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea held meetings in Maarab with LF cadres in the Jbeil area where talks highlighted the preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections noting that the party's candidate for the Maronite seat, Ziad Hawat, is widely accepted in Jbeil, the National News Agency said on Wednesday.

The meeting was held in the presence of LF Executive Committee member Elie Bragid, Assistant Secretary for Regional Affairs Joseph Abu Joudeh and LF coordinator of the Jbeil region Charbel Abi Akel, NNA said.

A man set himself on fire near the UN refugees center in the northern city of Tripoli, the State-run National News Agency reported.

President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit Lebanon between January 29 and 31, accompanied by his wife and an official delegation at the invitation of Lebanese President Michel Aoun, the Presidency's media office announced on Wednesday.

The German president will hold talks with Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri on the general situation and ways to strengthen and develop the Lebanese-German relations in all fields, added the statement.

An Israeli spy device was discovered on Wednesday in southern Lebanon, state-run National News Agency reported.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed concerns that the purpose of proposing amendments to the new complex electoral law is to thwart the upcoming parliamentary elections, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.