Defense Minister Samir Moqbel is expected to discuss with Iranian officials in Tehran over the weekend a recent pledge to give military assistance to Lebanon to help its fight against extremists.

Moqbel is not entitled to sign any agreement or make any commitment to the Iranian grant, As Safir daily reported on Friday.

Head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun slammed on Friday consultations between al-Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi over the names of the presidential candidates.

“They can talk as much as they want... I will not withdraw my candidacy and I will never back down,” Aoun's visitors quoted him as saying in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has reportedly visited his party's fighters on the Lebanese-Syrian border dressed in military fatigues in a strong show of support.

Al-Liwaa newspaper said Friday that Nasrallah met the fighters in their posts after he visited some families in the eastern Bekaa Valley to extend condolences to the party members who were killed in battles with extremist groups.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil lashed out at politicians who are calling for the extension of the parliament's tenure, considering that the polls are the solution for the lingering crises including the presidential vacuum.

“Whoever wins the general elections would be able to elect a new head of state,” Bassil said in comments published in al-Akhbar newspaper on Friday.

A Lebanese soldier was killed at dawn Friday when assailants opened fire on a bus transporting troops on the Bireh road in the northern Akkar district, the army and the state-run National News Agency said.

The dead soldier was identified as Jamal Jean al-Hashem, who hails from the town of Qobayyat.

One person was injured on Thursday in a shootout during an army raid to arrest a suspect for killing an army soldier in al-Beddawi in Tripoli.

The army said in an official statement on Thursday night that two men “riding a motorcycle fired at a position for the army in al-Akoumi area, and the army members fired back.”

Hizbullah announced on Thursday that those firing at the army in Tripoli are “allies" of al-Mustaqbal movement and “close to it.”

It called to refer them to the judiciary for "punishment."

The army opened fire on Wednesday at a motorcycle in the northeastern Bekaa region of Arsal after it failed to stop at the Wadi Hmeid checkpoint, reported the National News Agency.

One passenger from the al-Hujeiri family was wounded in the shooting.

Al-Nusra Front group on Tuesday showed a video of the defected soldier Corporal Abdullah Shehadeh calling more than once for defection from the army and stressing that the government is lying to the families of the soldiers kidnapped by the group, because "Hizbullah wants to kill them."

Shehadeh said in a long video that he belongs to "a secret regiment,” announcing his defection from the Lebanese army “that is directed by 'Iranian Hezb Alat' (Hizbullah)” and that he is joining “the ranks of 'al-Mujahideen'."

U.N.'s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura met on Thursday with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and is expected to hold talks with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil later in the day, on the other hand, he pointed out the "agreement" with Hizbullah on "a political solution" to end the war there.

“A new turn of events are controlling the region, in particular regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant... and the International community is deeply concerned,” De Mistura told reporters after talks with Salam at the Grand Serail.