Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said on Sunday that the Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun will never be a president, criticizing the street mobilizations that the latter kicked off during the latest cabinet session.

“Aoun will never be a president. What he did in the streets only indicate a state of national downfall and is a proof that he is not fit to handle responsibility at the level of the state,” said Rifi in an interview to the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily.

The Israeli army carried out a live ammunition maneuver early Sunday in the Shebaa farms, the National News Agency said.

At around 7:00 am, Israeli troops kicked off simulated military operations in the southern side of the Shebaa farms close to the border line using live ammunition.

A European diplomatic source said that the United States will not accept vacuum in the leadership of Lebanon's military institutions, warning that it could halt the aid program it provides to the army, the Kuwaiti al-Qabas daily reported on Sunday.

The United states, which continuously provides the army with aid and cover to dismantle terrorist cells, will not accept vacuum in the leadership of the military institution, threatening that it could reconsider the aid program if that happened, the daily added.

An Israeli drone crashed in the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, the army said, in the second such incident in three weeks.

"At around 8:30 am (0530 GMT), a drone belonging to the Israeli enemy went down in the port of Tripoli, and the army has taken the necessary measures," the military said in a statement, without elaborating.

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq returned to Lebanon from a trip to Saudi Arabia where they held talks on the latest local developments with Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

Informed sources told the daily: “The officials agreed on measures to confront these developments and prevent the escalation of the government crisis.”

The Mustaqbal Movement is not leaning towards boycotting any political side, declared their sources in response to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's call on the movement to launch dialogue with Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun, reported An Nahar daily on Saturday.

The sources added: “Our lines are open and we have never boycotted anyone.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Saturday held the army leadership responsible for the clash that took place between his supporters and troops at a protest earlier this week.

“It is a shame for the (army) leadership to behave this way with peaceful protesters,” Aoun told a delegation of supporters from Aley.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Friday that the LF would support the creation of a popular brigade to defend border towns in the Bekaa against any jihadist attack, while stressing that such a paramilitary force should only operate under the supervision of the Lebanese army.

In a speech in Maarab during an LF ceremony, Geagea called for “preventing the movement of arms and gunmen convoys across the border and halting some parties' continued involvement in the Syrian conflict.”

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called Friday for a “serious dialogue” between the Free Patriotic Movement and al-Mustaqbal movement to resolve the cabinet dispute, as he declared that “the road to Jerusalem” goes through Syria.

“Weeks ago, it was obvious that the country was heading towards a clash over the issue of government and the FPM is a key party in the equation,” said Nasrallah in a televised address commemorating Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

Police arrested on Friday the Lebanese ringleader of a gang which kidnapped a six-year-old child in the Jbeil district town of Amchit last week, reports said.

The man, S.Aa., was apprehended by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch in the town of Dora near Beirut, which lies around 40 kilometers away from Amchit, they said.