Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed Wednesday that the 1943 National Pact stipulated that we should “live together equally,” hitting back at remarks by Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed Wednesday that the latest domestic tensions “will not affect the army's role.”

Lebanese authorities have arrested in Beirut an opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule, a media report said on Wednesday.

On the eve of a crucial cabinet session, Prime Minister Tammam Salam called on all political forces on Wednesday to “refrain from obstruction” and “support and enhance the work of state institutions.”

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan stated on Wednesday that relations between the LF and al-Mustaqbal Movement are not tense as he assured that the the only solution lies in an agreement.

“There is no tension in relations between the two, it is a mere difference in points of view because (Samir) Geaega (LF chief) insists on electing (MP Michel) Aoun as president which Saniora (head of the Mustaqbal bloc) rejects,” said Adwan after meeting Saniora on the sidelines of a parliamentary meeting to elect a president.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Wednesday that he will not resume the dialogue meetings unless the political parties are truly ready for serious dialogue, Ad Diyar daily reported.

“I will not be calling for a dialogue session unless there was a change in the form, content and perception of the others. Until this moment I will not initiate anything until the others (politicians of the dialogue table) are ready for serious dialogue and their ideas change. Only then will I be ready because we want successful and efficient talks,” Berri was quoted as saying.

Contact was lost with the medical director of the Ibn Sina Hospital in the eastern city of Baalbek with reports suspecting that he might have been kidnapped, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Saleh al-Shal has gone missing since 7:15 pm on Tuesday, said NNA.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat emphasized that the rights of the Christian community are not marginalized as some officials claim but that the latter are “marginalizing themselves” because of their “stubbornness and adamant conditions”, As Safir daily reported on Wednesday.

“Allow me please...I object to this whole equation. What is true is that self marginalization is brought about by some Christian component because of its stubbornness and insistence on certain conditions,” said Jumblat to the daily.

Hizbullah has initiated efforts to mend the rift that emerged recently between its two allies, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Marada Movement, and has therefore dispatched Wafik Safa, the person responsible for the Liaison Committee and coordination in the party, to Rabieh for talks with the FPM leader Jebran Bassil, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

The party began endeavors to contain the “aggravating” FPM-Marada tension, as well as to renovate the internal party's ranks and address its alliances mainly that the tension between the allies is threatening these coalitions with further rifts, added the daily.

The Islamic State group has announced the death in Syria of an Australian jihadist of Lebanese origin convicted over a 2005 plot to bomb the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in a new English-language magazine.