The army arrested a suspect on the northern Arsal-Labweh highway over charges of smuggling materials used in the manufacturing of narcotics, the Lebanese Army Orientation Directorate said in a statement on Friday.

After thorough follow-up, army intelligence units detained Mohammed Hussein Rayid on the Labweh-Arsal highway, said the statement.

MP Qassem Hashem stressed on Friday that efforts to ease obstacles preventing an agreement on a new voting system are ongoing, stressing that Lebanon's current 1960 electoral law was still in effect "whether we like it or not".

The Lebanese army continues to target the posts of militants in the outskirts of Ras Baalbek and Arsal, amid “absence of any Hizbullah presence” after the latter handed over to the army its military posts on Lebanon's eastern border, media reports said on Friday.

“Hizbullah has no more positions in Arsal or Ras Baalbek. The army alone is positioned there and has expanded its deployment on the entire Lebanese eastern border,” a senior military source told al-Joumhouria daily on condition of anonymity.

Chances for Lebanon's parliamentary elections to be staged in accordance with the electoral law in force (the 1960) have grown, after political parties failed to agree on a new voting system to rule the May polls, al-Akhbar daily reported on Friday.

However, political forces insist that a new voting system can be “born” within a few days despite the fact that efforts have failed for many years to devise one, added the daily.

The top official of the jihadist al-Nusra Front group in the border region between Syria and Lebanon, Abu Malek al-Talli, might have been killed in a strike Wednesday in the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of Arsal, media reports said on Thursday.

A halted Saudi grant to provide the Lebanese army with French weapons, might be revived by the newly formed French government under elected President Emmanuel Macron, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

A personal dispute erupted between members of two families in the northern region of Akkar and escalated into a gunfight, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

The clashes erupted between members from al-Dinnawi and al-Mir families in the Akkar town of Mar Touma, NNA said.

Although deadlines are looming to agree on a new electoral law for Lebanon's parliamentary polls, Speaker Nabih Berri ruled out the possibility of failure to reach a voting system before June 21 when the term of the parliament ends, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

A source following up closely on the election debate said “Berri is waiting for other ideas to come up, and ruled out reaching June 21 without an agreement,” they told the daily on condition of anonymity.

Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano held talks Thursday in Lebanon with the country's top officials and stressed the importance of Lebanon's stability.

Alfano held talks with President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda and handed him an official invitation on behalf of the Italian President to visit the country.

President Michel Aoun met on Wednesday with the governor of the Central Bank Riad Salameh where talks focused on Lebanon's financial and monetary situation, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said, Salameh briefed the President on the current “financial and monetary situation highlighting the efforts of the Central Bank in preserving Lebanon's financial stability.”