Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji’s visit to Washington did not result in any change in the United States decision to halt military assistance to the Lebanese army, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.

The relations between the U.S. and Lebanese army “are strong and we support the funding of the aid program to the Lebanese army,” a source in at the State Department told the daily.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat held talks on Thursday night in what sources said was a coordinated meeting ahead of the Druze leader’s expected interview with al-Manar.

Hizbullah’s TV station said the two officials discussed the latest developments but a source close to the two parties told al-Liwaa newspaper that the meeting and Jumblat’s TV appearance on Friday night are part of coordinated joint stances.

The March 14-led opposition is preparing for a “general national conference” next month in the light of the results achieved by the “Lady of the Mountain” gathering scheduled for Oct. 23, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday.

The conference will determine a broad vision on the upcoming stage in Lebanon and the region.

Two people were killed in a clash between Jaafar and Rifai Families in Sharawineh Neighborhood in Baalbak on Thursday.

According to NNA, a person from Jaafar family was shot dead as youths from his family were trying to kidnap a youth from Rifai family in Sharawinah neighborhood in Baalbek, while a ten year old child was killed by stray bullets.

Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Thursday that "all countries who attempted to put its hands on Lebanon are being punished today."

During the October 13,1990 Memorial, Aoun said that the Free Patriotic Movement is "determined to continue on the martyrs' path which had been entrusted to them", adding that "we will never bow down to any intimidation."

Several embassies have tightened travel warnings for Lebanon, advising their nationals to avoid parts of the country due to unrest in neighboring Syria and the kidnapping of a group of Estonians.

The British embassy now advises its nationals to avoid travel to Lebanon's eastern and southern borders with Syria following incursions by Syrian troops into the country.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stated on Wednesday that one cannot boast of his power if he lives in closed security zones.

He said: “Administrative, judicial, and military institutions alone can protect citizens.”

The seven-month-old revolt in neighboring Syria has given hope to Lebanese families trying to find what happened to thousands of loved ones who disappeared during their country's civil war and are believed dead or held in Syrian jails.

"For the first time in many, many years, it's a win-win situation for us -- for all the families of the victims," said Ghazi Aad, head of SOLIDE, a group that for years has been lobbying for Lebanese political prisoners in Syrian jails.

Prominent journalist Ali Hamadeh, who is the brother of MP Marwan Hamadeh, has informed Lebanese authorities that he received an assassination threat on his website.

Hamadeh told security forces and the General Secretariat of the March 14 coalition that he received the death threat last Wednesday, media reports said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat held a dinner banquet for his former allies, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

“Everyone attended the dinner banquet,” ex-PSP member Fouad al-Saad confirmed to the daily.