The relatives of the nine Lebanese Shiite pilgrims abducted in Syria's Aazaz on Wednesday staged a sit-in at Beirut's Martyrs Square, amid a noteworthy participation by March 8 politicians and reports of an imminent swap deal.

Later on Wednesday, the kidnappers of the pilgrims, the so-called Northern Storm Brigade, issued a statement on its official Facebook page declaring that “after interrogating the Lebanese who are in our custody, it turned out that they are members of Iran's party in Lebanon and not pilgrims like the party is claiming because there are no holy shrines in Aazaz.”

A building with cracks in the walls and foundation in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jadeedah was evacuated on Thursday night, the state-run national news agency reported.

According to the NNA, the 11-storey building that is under the threat of collapse includes 22 apartments.

The March 14 General Secretariat accused on Wednesday the Syrian regime of seeking to create strife and unrest in Lebanon, the most recent of these attempts were the attacks against the Dar al-Fatwa clerics in Beirut on Sunday.

It demanded in a statement after its weekly meeting that a “complaint be filed at the United Nations Security Council to protest the Syrian regime's ongoing violations of Lebanon's sovereignty, especially after its jets shelled Lebanese territory.”

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri warned on Sunday of the hazards of the sectarian incitement, calling on the Lebanese to exert efforts to prevent sedition in the country.

Hariri described in a statement issued by his press office the assault against four Sunni clerics on Sunday night as “disgraceful.”

The tire of a truck blew up on Monday afternoon inside the Ring tunnel near al-Murr tower in Beirut, and no injuries or material damage have been registered.

Future television said the explosion was heard across Beirut.

A bomb thrown by unidentified men exploded on Saturday in Beirut's Cola neighborhood, LBCI television reported.

MTV added that heavy gunfire was heard in the region after the bomb exploded.

The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch arrested two people on suspicion of their involvement in the kidnapping of a Lebanese businessman in early February, security sources said Thursday.

The sources told al-Liwaa newspaper that Ali Aa, 52, and his cousin, were arrested in the area of Tyre in southern Lebanon on the suspicion of abducting Najib Youssef on Feb. 5.

Firefighters succeeded on Wednesday in extinguishing a fire that broke out in a warehouse in Beirut's Zqaq al-Blat neighborhood, reported the National News Agency.

The Beirut firefighting department doused the blaze that broke out in a computer warehouse.

Four buses carrying Russian citizens escaping the Syrian civil war crossed the Masnaa border post on Tuesday to travel to Moscow via Beirut airport.

A Russian embassy official traveling with the group said about 80 people, mostly women and children, are on the buses.

A Kuwaiti man was briefly kidnapped in the North Metn area by three gunmen disguised as police officers, the state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday.

NNA said Moeen Rashad Khorshid was driving his BMW X6 on the road of factories in the town of Mansourieh when three men wearing police jackets intercepted him.