Commander of the U.S. Air Forces Central Command, Lieutenant General Charles Brown, arrived in Lebanon on Monday for talks with officials on means to combat terrorism, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Tuesday.

Discussions will focus on coordinating efforts to confront terrorism and to properly equip the army, through weapons and the necessary training.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil is scheduled to travel to Russia later on Tuesday on an official two-day visit, reported An Nahar daily.

He is set to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on combating terrorism, as well as the resolving presidential deadlock in Lebanon, revealed a diplomatic source to the daily.

Al-Qaida's Syria branch al-Nusra Front has demanded control over two regime-held Syrian towns near Lebanon and the release of five women from Lebanese jails in return for freeing the captive Lebanese servicemen, a spokesman for the hostages' families said on Monday.

“Al-Nusra's emir in Syria's Qalamoun, Abou Malek al-Talli, has sent a new demand with the families who visit their sons every now and then in the vicinity of (the Lebanese border town of) Arsal,” Hussein Youssef, the father of captive soldier Mohammed Youssef, told Turkey's state news agency Anatolia.

The Kataeb Party on Monday hoped Hizbullah's recent call for a "comprehensive political settlement" will lead to “Lebanonizing the political conflict” in the country.

“The party discussed Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's call for a comprehensive political settlement and hoped it is an indication of an intention to give the priority to the domestic situation and Lebanonize the conflict regardless of what is happening in the region,” said Kataeb in a statement issued after the weekly meeting of its politburo.

The army arrested four Syrians and seized a cache of arms and ammunition overnight in the Beirut area of Wata el-Msaitbeh, amid a security crackdown in the country following the deadly Bourj al-Barajneh blasts.

“An army force raided overnight a building in the Wata el-Msaitbeh area containing a number of suspicious individuals where it arrested the Syrians Omar Hamad al-Hussein, Hussein Saray al-Hussein, Abboud Hamad al-Mohammed al-Abed and Hammoud Hamad al-Mohammed al-Abed,” the army said in a statement issued Monday.

A Lebanese journalist working for Hizbullah was killed while covering clashes in northern Syria, Syria's official news agency said Monday.

"The war correspondent of the Lebanese resistance (Hizbullah), Mohammad Mahmud Nazar, was killed yesterday while covering military operations" in Aleppo province, SANA reported. 

In a tent in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, Sanaa al-Absi extracts a condom from its wrapper in front of a group of giggling Syrian refugee women and begins explaining its use.

It is the first time some of the women have seen the contraceptive, which they are learning about as part of a rare program teaching Syrian refugees family planning in Lebanon.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is unlikely to call cabinet to session any time soon due to his fear of its failure given the lack of progress made in resolving the garbage disposal crisis, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper Monday.

Sources from the premier told the daily: “Any cabinet session hinges on progress in the trash crisis.”

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim revealed that the recent arrests made by the security agency were of individuals linked directly to the Islamic State's province in Syria's al-Raqa, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Monday.

He told the daily: “The preemptive measures we have recently taken have thwarted several terrorist attacks and spared the lives of innocents.”

Speaker Nabih Berri hailed the recent stances of Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, noting that they have made “progress” in reaching common positions, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Monday.

He told the daily: “We need a complete agreement, starting with the election of a president.”