Lebanon is seeking to establish a joint Lebanese-Syrian committee to deal with the conditions of the Syrian refugees across the country as sharp differences surged between cabinet members on the measures to deal with the situation.

Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) reported on Friday that Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour discussed with Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali a proposal to establish the committee that will be tasked with tackling the issue of Syrian refugees.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat revealed on Friday that the reconciliation in the Mountains was complete after the end of violations against Christian properties in a mixed village in the Shouf district.

“We will hold a reconciliation ceremony under the auspices of the (Maronite) patriarch and the president after the wound of the town of Brih healed following the end of violations against the properties of Christians,” Jumblat told reporters in Bkirki.

The army has detained five suspects involved in an armed clash that erupted in al-Njassah neighborhood of the southern city of Sidon, which left one man dead.

According to a communique issued by the army command on Friday, a unit headed to the area and found the body of a Palestinian man shot several times.

Security forces seized from two inmates in Roumieh prison several illegal items, including a spy pen, the state-run National News Agency reported on Friday.

NNA said police found two SIM cards with Palestinian prisoner Safi Hassan Mattar, 24, and seized a spy pen camera and a USB from a 42-year-old Lebanese inmate identified as Bilal Mohammed Ali Qaddouh.

Secretary of Bakeries Syndicate Anis Beshara warned on Friday that the price of the 900-gram bread pack will increase to LL2,000 if the government decided to lift subsidies on wheat starting February.

He voiced hope, in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper, that the current price of the standard bread pack would remain at LL1,500, in particular, amid the present dire economy situation.

President Michel Suleiman is scheduled on January 22 to visit Moscow where he will meet with his Russian counterpart and receive an award on his role in calling for dialogue and opening channels of communication between bickering parties, the Central News Agency reported.

CNA said Thursday that Suleiman's two-day visit comes following an official invitation sent by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati played down differences between cabinet members on the Syrian refugees in Lebanon saying relief aid to the displaced will continue despite a heated debate on government measures to deal with the situation.

In remarks to As Safir daily published on Friday, Miqati said: “We are responsible towards the refugee issue from its humanitarian and moral aspects.”

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed optimism on Friday over the upcoming meeting of the parliamentary electoral subcommittee, saying that he rejects the adoption of an electoral draft law proposed by the Butros Committee.

Berri, in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper, hoped that the subcommittee meeting, which is tasked with discussing the electoral system and the number and size of districts, on Tuesday would constitute a breakthrough to the dispute over the electoral law.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel revealed on Friday that he is ready to run for the presidency after the tenure of President Michel Suleiman ends in 2014, pointing out that the upcoming parliamentary elections can be held only if the political foes reach consensus over the electoral law.

I will become the next president “if I was asked, and they agreed on my candidacy... But I refuse to be a president who has no decision,” Charbel said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

An exchange of gunfire erupted on Thursday evening in Sidon between members of the Popular Nasserite Organization led by ex-MP Osama Saad and the Hizbullah-affiliated Resistance Brigades, leaving one person dead and three others wounded.

Future TV said “fierce clashes erupted in the Nazlet Sidon area between a group belonging to the Popular Nasserite Organization and another belonging to 'Hizbullah's brigades'.”