General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim said on Saturday that the new factor in the latest “qualitative” security forces' operation that resulted in foiling terror schemes, was the presence of four Yemenis in the terrorist group, pointing out that it was the “first time that Yemenis were arrested.”

“The targets planned by the terrorist group, including Tripoli and Nabatieh, showed that there was an intention to create strife and mobilize people against each other,” said Ibrahim in an interview to Ad-Diyar daily.

The General Security and Internal Security Forces agents managed to bust a terror cell comprised of Palestinian, Syrian and Yemeni suspects, who had plans to carry out terror operations in the country including in the northern city of Tripoli and the southern town of Nabatieh, media reports said.

“A group of elite intelligence forces in the General Security and Internal Security Forces tracked down suspects and deterred detainees and other fugitives from carrying out criminal schemes on Lebanon's territory. Four terrorists were detained and an explosive belt was defused,” the National News Agency reported.

Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani ordered the closure of a clinic, in the Choueifat area southeast of Beirut, run by two unlicensed non-Lebanese doctors and referred two pharmacists to the Pharmaceutical Inspection Department for supplying the doctors with expired medication, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

Information provided to the health ministry said the non-Lebanese doctors were practicing medicine without a legal permit.

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Imad Othman pledged on Friday to improve Lebanon's security institution to become one of the leading at the international level.

Othman's comments came in an address he gave on Friday marking the 156th founding anniversary of the ISF, under the patronage of President Michel Aoun at the late Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan's Barracks in Dbayieh.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq called on Friday for restoring the death penalty in light of the spiking number of crime and premeditated murder.

“I hereby call for restoring the capital punishment in light of an increase in crime and deliberate killings, because judicial decisions do not deter the criminals,” said Mashnouq in a speech marking the 156th anniversary of the foundation of the Internal Security Forces under the patronage of President Michel Aoun.

State Security agents in the Bekaa region arrested a Syrian national who infiltrated Lebanon's territory and confessed to having links to terror groups in Syria, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

The State Security managed to arrest the man who was identified by his initials as D.A., said NNA.

Unknown armed assailants shot dead a 24-year old man, Roy Hamoush, at dawn on Wednesday in the Karantina area on the Dora highway after a car chase, the National News Agency reported.

A car accident happened at around 2:00 am in Jal el-Dib between a vehicle driven by the victim's friend, Johnny Jreis Nassar, and a tinted-glass BMW having three armed men inside, NNA said.

State Minister for Women's Affairs warned on Wednesday that failure to reach a new vote law for Lebanon's parliamentary elections would drag the country into the “unknown and vacuum.”

“After June 19, when the parliament's term ends, if we fail to agree on a new electoral law the country will fall into the unknown and in vacuum,” said Oghassapian in an interview to VDL (93.3).

Prime Minister Saad Hariri vowed to exert all efforts needed to keep the capital Beirut the “jewel of the Arab,” and highlighted the missions tasked to the municipality of Beirut to implement development and maintenance projects in the capital.

President Michel Aoun stressed Tuesday that “Lebanon is determined to carry on with its fight against terrorist groups and the pursuit of their sleeper cells,” during talks in Baabda with the head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander General Joseph Votel.

“The army is continuing its airstrikes and land operations against the posts of these groups, inflicting heavy casualties on their members,” Aoun added in the meeting, which was also attended by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard and a U.S. military delegation.