Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh urged on Thursday his movement to intensify efforts in order to achieve the success of Syrian Social National Party candidate Walid al-Azar in Sunday’s Koura by-elections.

He said: “Funds from Arab Gulf countries are being paid to the other camp in order to ensure the success of their candidate.”

For the second time in three days another bank fell the victim of a robbery on Thursday as the thieves managed to escape with large sums of money.

The Fenicia Bank, formerly Bank of Kuwait and the Arab World, in the Beirut district of Ashrafiyeh was robbed by two masked gunmen.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri urged al-Mustaqbal supporters in the northern district of Koura on Thursday to vote for March 14 candidate Fadi Karam during the weekend by-elections as the rival candidates expressed confidence in their victory.

Karam stressed that the March 14 campaign officials are cooperating to prepare for Sunday’s elections.

A Lebanese man and three children were injured at dawn Thursday when Syrian shells hit several towns in the northern district of Akkar and the eastern Bekaa valley near the border with Syria.

Thirty seven year old Khodr Naji was injured in the eye from shrapnel after a shell landed near his house in Akkar’s al-Dousa.

The government suspended medical assistance to Syrian refugees in northern Lebanon pending negotiations with international agencies on supporting the Lebanese cabinet in guaranteeing the source of funding, Premier Najib Miqati’s circles said.

“Not a single international agency is helping the government in this burden,” they told As Safir newspaper published on Thursday.

A meeting between Christian lawmakers was held on Tuesday to coordinate stances regarding the latest dispute at the parliament which led them to boycott its sessions.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Thursday, Energy Minister Jebran Bassil and MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who are loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan and Phalange Party MP Sami Gemayel held talks in Bikfaya from 11:00 p.m. till 1:00 a.m.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati shrugged off the criticism of the March 14 opposition coalition on the so-called telecom data, saying security apparatuses were satisfied with the data that were being handed over.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published Thursday, Miqati said: “There isn’t any negligence and the security bodies are satisfied with the level of information that they are getting.”

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed that the alliance with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun is firm and will not collapse, al-Akhbar newspaper published on Thursday.

Nasrallah hailed Aoun’s stances, noting that his party is exerting efforts to resolve the dispute among the March 8 parliamentary majority, the daily said.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon Trial Chamber rejected motions by the defense counsel for the four accused to suspend or reconsider in absentia proceedings, it announced in a press release on Wednesday.

“The defense counsel had argued in their motions that in absentia trials are a violation of human rights and that the accused were not properly notified of the charges against them,” it explained.

Lebanese authorities have released a Syrian dissident who was arrested on the weekend upon his arrival from Egypt, Syrian activists said.

"Zakaria Mutlak was released this evening," Beirut-based Syrian activist Kinan Ali told Agence France Presse, without elaborating.