The 160-year-old palace withstood two world wars, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the French mandate and Lebanese independence. After the country's 1975-1990 civil war, it took 20 years of careful restoration for the family to bring the palace back to its former glory.

"In a split second, everything was destroyed again," says Roderick Sursock, owner of Beirut's landmark Sursock Palace, one of the most storied buildings in the Lebanese capital.

Rescuers searched for survivors in Beirut Wednesday after a cataclysmic explosion at the port sowed devastation across entire neighbourhoods, killing more than 100 people, wounding thousands and plunging Lebanon deeper into crisis.

The Beirut Madinati list of candidates on Friday urged a heavy turnout in the capital's municipal polls that will be held on Sunday, calling on voters to “seize the historic chance to change the fate of our city.”

“Following eight months of work and hope, we have managed to impose ourselves as serious contenders through a rhetoric and an approach that have elevated political action and obliged the rival lists to run according to electoral platforms,” the head of the list, Ibrahim Mneimneh, said at a press conference.

The Free Patriotic Movement will not withdraw from the “Beirutis List” of candidates running in Sunday's municipal polls after reaching a settlement that will garner it the most mayoral seats in the capital's Ashrafiyeh district, reported the daily An Nahar on Thursday.

It said that the FPM will enjoy the greatest representation among Christians in Ashrafiyeh.

Claims that a booby-trapped vehicle had made its way to Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahieh created a stir in the country on Friday.

The allegations were however dismissed as rumors by a prominent security source, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

A stray cow has left one person injured after two vehicles collided on the Naameh highway south of Beirut, the Traffic Management Center and Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said.

Several cars collided as the cow was crossing the highway, said VDL.

Speaker Nabih Berri has mockingly said that he was on the verge of joining civil society activists in anti-government demonstrations sparked by the garbage crisis.

In remarks to his visitors, Berri said: “Let no one talk to me about any issue before we settle the waste crisis.”

The Lebanese army said it has arrested a man suspected of involvement in clashes with the military in a suburb of the southern city of Sidon two years ago.

The military said in a communique that an “army unit arrested Firas Abdul Latif Hakawati in Sidon for participating in the fighting with the army during the Abra events in 2013.”

Activists from “We Want Accountability” movement and security forces clashed on Tuesday near the Energy Ministry after the protesters blocked one of the facility's entrances.

Ministry employees told them that the ministry is a red line, refusing to remain trapped in their offices in Beirut's Corniche al-Nahr area.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam disclosed on Monday that he supports the demands of the civil society, slamming accusations that the demonstrations are orchestrated from abroad.

“The demands of the civil society are righteous, I am probably somewhere in support of their demands and I'm not with the political forces in this matter,” Salam told the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily.