Al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri flew to Riyadh on Tuesday for talks with Saudi officials over the thorny file of Lebanon's presidency, media reports said on Wednesday.

Hariri has returned recently to Lebanon and launched a series of presidential consultations with the main political parties in a bid to end the deadlock at the top state post.

AMAL Movement Poliburo member MP Hani Qobeissi stressed on Wednesday the necessity to hold dialogue among the various political components in order to end the presidential vacuum ad reactivate the cabinet and parliament's work, the National News Agency reported.

“Under the leadership of Speaker Nabih Berri (head of AMAL) we adhere to communication to protect Lebanon and to prevent sedition. Assuming we can do that, we have to stick to our unity because the Imam al-Sadr called on us to hold on to national unity which fits in any Arab country, and the dialogue that was obstructed in Lebanon fits in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen for people to communicate with each other,” he added.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc member MP Jamal Jarrah stressed on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia will not interfere in Lebanon's presidential elections, as he assured that the comments made by Saudi chargé d'affaires in Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari on Twitter were simply to overview the history of late Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, thus dismissing any indication of Riyadh's support for a specific candidate.

The body of a dead man was found on the Karantina highway northeast of Beirut, the Traffic Management Center said on Tuesday.

Red Cross operations director George Kettaneh told VDL (100.5) that the body reportedly belongs to a Lebanese man in his 60s who was a victim of a hit-and-run incident.

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour briefed Speaker Nabih Berri and al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri on his latest visit to Saudi Arabia that failed to bring a decisive answer as for the Saudi stance with regard to the nomination of MP Michel Aoun, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

“Abou Faour met with a high-level Saudi figure during his visit to the Saudi kingdom two days ago,” well-informed sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.

Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya in the North and Tripoli has two reservations about the nomination of founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun for the post of presidency, As Safir daily reported on Monday.

The Fateh al-Sham Front -- formerly al-Qaida's Syria affiliate al-Nusra Front – has taken the decision to eradicate the presence of the Islamic State group in the northeastern border town of Arsal and in the Qalamoun area, al-Akhbar daily reported on Monday.

The daily pointed out to the assassination of extremist IS official Abu Bakr al-Reqqawi a day earlier in Arsal, and said that his killing was part of the plan that has been put into implementation.

Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin assessed the latest meeting between al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri and Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Zaspikin as positive and friendly, and emphasized that the presidential file in Lebanon is an internal affair, As Safir daily reported on Monday.

Discussions between the two men focused on the file of the Lebanese presidency and the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon, added the daily.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea warned that the failure of al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri's initiative to bring MP Michel Aoun to the post of the presidency, will open Lebanon to “horrifying” risks, as he stressed that Hariri is very serious with regard to Aoun's nomination, the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat daily reported on Saturday.

“Hariri is serious with regard to his initiative, but he only needs time to build an understanding with Aoun and to convince his supporters to elect him after the shifting political relations between the two parties,” Geagea told the daily in an interview.

As soon as he returned from a trip to Moscow and Riyadh, al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri tasked one of his representatives to hold contacts with MP Michel Aoun to brief him on Saudi Arabia's “initial” positive position with regard to his nomination for the presidency, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Although the Saudi stance is still indecisive, but the news was assessed as positive in Rabieh, the daily added.