A pregnant woman, her husband and their three children died on Friday when their old, two-story house collapsed in the center of the Libyan capital, a neighbor said.

"The family were all sleeping in the same room when the building collapsed," said the man identified only as Mohammed, who helped in rescue efforts. "They all died."

Two men were killed and contact was lost with at least 18 others in the Syrian town of al-Qusayr near the border with Lebanon, LBCI television reported on Thursday.

"The men who hail from the northern cities of Tripoli and Dinniyeh have left Lebanon to participate in the battles in al-Qusayr's countryside”, sources close to the Syrian opposition told LBCI.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati hailed on Wednesday the army and security forces for their role in preserving stability and security in the northern city of Tripoli.

He said: “The residents of the city should refuse being used as pawns to maintain instability in Tripoli.”

The director of the office of Syrian refugees' affairs in Lebanon Khaled al-Mustafa, aka Abu Raed, informed security forces that he escaped an assassination attempt while he was in his office in the northern city of Tripoli, MTV reported on Wednesday.

“Al-Mustafa survived a gunshot fired from a silenced pistol,” it elaborated.

The army intervened on Wednesday to contain an individual dispute, that soon spiraled into an armed clash, between two families in Tripoli's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.

According to the state-run National News Agency, the dispute erupted between men from Srour and others from Sharkas families.

Gunmen demanding the sacking of former officials of the ousted Gadhafi regime surrounded the justice ministry on Tuesday, stepping up an action started at the Foreign Ministry, an official said.

"Several armed men in vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft guns surrounded the Ministry of Justice," spokesman Walid Ben Rabha told AFP.

The Directorate General of Internal Security Forces on Monday denied issuing a memo instructing ISF members not to wear uniform in public in the wake of the deadly clashes that erupted in Tripoli's al-Beddawi on Sunday.

“As the directorate highlights its deep confidence and close ties with all citizens and the components of the Lebanese society, it clarifies that it is still performing its duties in a regular manner, and it declares that these reports are totally baseless,” it said in a statement.

Religious and civil figures from Tripoli on Monday rejected the proliferation of arms in their restive city and condemned the latest calls for “jihad” in Syria that were voiced by Lebanese Sunni clerics.

There is a need to “spare the Lebanese arena any domestic conflict that might be sparked by the events in Syria,” said a statement issued by the dignitaries after a meeting at Dar al-Fatwa in the northern city.

President Michel Suleiman ordered on Monday stronger measures to preserve security and stability in northern Lebanon a day after three men were killed in clashes over a clampdown on illegal construction.

“Suleiman followed up the security situation in the country in general and specifically the North and met at Baabda palace with caretaker Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn, Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji and the acting head of the Internal Security Forces, Gen. Roger Salem,” a presidential statement said.

Three people were killed and at least 10 others were hurt in clashes over the removal of illegal constructions in the Tripoli area of al-Beddawi on Sunday, state-run National News Agency reported.

“A protest over the removal of illegal construction in the Wadi al-Nahleh area in al-Beddawi erupted into a major clash between residents and security and military forces, which involved gunfire,” NNA said.