The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch denied on Monday that two of its members were wounded when chasing a wanted man in the northern town of Shekka.

“News about the injury of the Intelligence Branch members are not true,” said the ISF on twitter.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun expressed belief on Monday that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front's intervention in Lebanon will never be easy as the people is all determined to combat extremism.

“The Lebanese youth is concerned with the fate of the country and should abide by the appropriate choices to preserve the country,” Aoun said via the FPM Youth Facebook page to commemorate the 24th anniversary of his ouster from the Baabda Palace.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri reiterated on Monday that he was trying hard to push for the election of a new president in Lebanon.

In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro, Hariri said: “Lebanon's coexistence … is menaced by the paralysis of institutions amid a presidential vacuum.”

Contacts intensified recently to persuade Muslim and Christian prominent figures in the northern port city of Tripoli to attend a conference set to highlight civil peace in the area.

The Mufti of Tripoli and the North, Sheikh Malek al-Shaar, revealed in comments published in As Safir newspaper on Monday that the conference that will be held under the slogan “The National Tripoli Gathering” will issue a “civil peace charter.”

The increasing defection of troops from the Lebanese army is not expected to affect the military, which includes around 60,000 soldiers, despite fears that the institution is being targeted with a campaign to create chaos in its ranks.

Military sources told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that “the Lebanese army similar to any other army witnesses some defections but the focus on the recent cases was compelled by the fact that the fugitive soldiers defected and joined the ranks of terrorist organizations.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has stressed that the jihadists, who have taken Lebanese soldiers and police hostage, have not made clear demands and revealed that a Qatari negotiator's mission has been so far fruitless.

“There is nothing new except for the Qatari envoy who has held several rounds of negotiations that have not yet yielded results,” local newspapers quoted Salam as telling his visitors.

Police and the army have arrested Lebanese, Gulf and Syrian nationals having hundreds of thousands of dollars in their possession for the purpose of buying arms, As Safir daily reported on Monday.

The ISF arrested a couple of weeks ago a Lebanese man in the northern city of Tripoli. He had 200,000 dollars in his possession, it said.

An unknown assailant tossed a hand grenade on Sunday night toward an army checkpoint in al-Mitein in Tripoli, hitting the outer wall of the position and causing no injuries, reported the National News Agency.

Afterwards, NNA stated that: “The army closed the roads of al-Rifa, al-Omari and al-Hariri project in Tripoli as a precaution after a hand grenade was thrown at its position in al-Mitein.”

Ousama Mansour and Shadi al-Mawlawi will be evacuating in the next few hours a mosque they used to frequently go to, and that is after efforts by the clerics of Tripoli.

“During the next few hours Abdullah bin Masood mosque in Bab al-Tabbani will be evacuated,” the National News Agency said.

Kurds demonstrated on Sunday afternoon in Beirut in solidarity with the Syrian town of Kobane, which has repelled for months a siege by the Islamic State jihadist group.

The Islamic State controls about 40 percent of Kobane so far.