Efforts are continuing to solve the presidential deadlock and make the new political settlement that could see the nomination of Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh as president.

Al-Mustaqbal MP Hadi Hobeish met with Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun in Rabieh on Friday in what seems to be an attempt to convince him of the said settlement.

A much-anticipated meeting was held Wednesday afternoon in Rabieh between Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh and Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun, amid ambiguity in the ties between the two allies that followed the northern leader's presidential nomination.

The meeting was held in the presence of Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil -- Aoun's son-in-law.

Hizbullah on Wednesday killed an al-Qaida commander and eight of his men in an attack on their convoy along the Lebanese-Syrian border, the group's media said.

Al-Manar television said the convoy of al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front fighters had been traveling on the outskirts of the restive Lebanese border town of Arsal when Hizbullah struck. 

A parliamentary committee tasked with drafting a new electoral law resumed its meetings on Tuesday at Nejmeh Square but away from the media spotlight.

The attendees have agreed during the latest session held in November that it is better to keep the meetings secret in order to reach “better results.”

Iran and Saudi Arabia have not discussed the Lebanese file or the latest settlement that could bring MP Suleiman Franjieh to the post of presidency, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

“There is no Saudi-Iranian agreement on the presidential file in Lebanon. The meeting between Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and Saudi Arabia's Adel al-Jubeir did not last for more than 14 minutes and the talks focused on the Yemeni file without touching on the Lebanese one,” unnamed sources told the daily.

A ministerial crisis cell pledged Monday to exert “efforts in all directions” to secure the release of nine Lebanese servicemen held hostage by the extremist Islamic State group, several days after 16 Lebanese troops and policemen were freed in a swap deal between Lebanon and the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.

The statement was issued after a Grand Serail meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Tammam Salam and attended by Deputy PM and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, Health Minister Wael Abou Faour and General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.

The Lebanese Forces General Secretariat and the al-Mustaqbal movement are trying to mend the rift that emerged against the backdrop of the latest presidential nominations, and have therefore asked on Monday their supporters to stop the war of words on social media.

The General Secretariat of the Lebanese forces issued a circular asking its supporters to abstain from venting their anger against the nomination of MP Suleiman Franjieh on social media.

A Hizbullah delegation did not pay Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun a visit last week with the aim of discussing the nomination of Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh for president, An Nahar daily quoted unnamed sources on Monday.

“The stance of the Free Patriotic Movement is very well known and it will continue to nominate the candidacy of Aoun (for president) as a final strategic choice,” the sources close to the FPM told the daily.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged the political factions on Sunday to come together and to “seriously” take into consideration the new initiative aiming at ending the presidential vacuum.

“We reiterate the call on all political blocs to converge and study seriously the initiative, and to hold talks in order to elect a president,” said al-Rahi during Sunday mass.

Three armed men robbed a Syrian national at gunpoint after stopping his car in the neighborhood of Bar Elias in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley, and slightly injured a policeman in the chase, the state-run National News Agency reported on Sunday .

The assailants were driving a silver Grand Cherokee when they intercepted on the Bar Elias road the vehicle of Haitham Mohammed al-Nowaylati who had two other passengers in his car, and forced them to the ground.