Two grenades were found on Friday in Bab al-Jihad stadium in the neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh in the northern port city of Tripoli, the state-run National News Agency reported.

A military expert arrived swiftly at the scene and defused the two grenades, the news agency said.

A Lebanese military expert defused on Sunday three hand grenades found in the area of al-Mina in the northern city of Tripoli, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said the grenades were discovered in the area of Borj al-Sibaa.

The mother of a Lebanese men held hostage by the Syrian regime urged political leaders on Saturday to exert efforts to release her son Hassan Srour and bring him back to Lebanon.

“I particularly ask General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim to work on this case, as he has helped in retrieving the body of my other son from Syria before,” Amina Turki al-Abboud Srour told the National News Agency.

The deputy of Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said Saturday that the Higher Islamic Council is the only body that has the authority to call for the election of its members.

Following talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the head of a Council delegation, Omar Mesqawi said: “We want effective elections that are capable of giving the Council the ability to control the performance of Dar al-Fatwa, including the Mufti.”

The parents of the fighters killed in Tall Kalakh ambush and those of the Islamist inmates in Roumieh prison held a sit-in on Friday in front of Prime Minister Najib Miqati's residence in Tripoli, demanding the freeing of the detained and unveiling the fate of the missing fighters in Syria.

"We will hold another sit-in this Sunday near the al-Arida crossing to press on these issues,” the spokesman of the families of the fighters Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim announced on behalf of the protesters.

Unidentified assailants on Sunday hurled a hand grenade on al-Khnaq Street in Tripoli's Bab al-Ramel neighborhood, state-run National News Agency reported.

“At once, army and Internal Security Forces troops arrived on the scene, cordoned off the location and launched an investigation,” NNA said.

The army deployed heavily in several Tripoli streets on Sunday after a priest was assaulted by several men.

"Priest Abdullah Skaff was beaten up by young men who were smoking shisha outside the Greek Catholic bishopric in Tripoli's al-Zahriyeh area,” Radio Voice of Lebanon (100.5) reported.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said on Sunday that the elections of the Higher Islamic Council, which will become illegitimate after the end of its term, should be held within the legitimate timeframe.

Following a visit to former Prime Minister Omar Karami at his residence in the northern city of Tripoli, the mufti said the members of the Council will be elected after the list of names of eligible voters is issued.

The families of the victims of the Tall Kalakh ambush and Islamist inmates held in Roumieh prison urged on Friday officials to exert efforts to resolve the case of their loved ones, vowing to take escalatory measures should their demands not be met.

They said during a protest in the northern city of Tripoli: “We will shut the border-crossings with Syria until this issue is resolved.”

Tripoli municipal chief Nader Ghazal announced on Wednesday that he would submit his resignation after New Year to protest political meddling and what he called widespread corruption.

“I am comfortable with my decision to resign and I won't accept to become a false witness to the events in Tripoli,” he said about the dispute between members of the municipal council who are loyal to several political leaders in the city.