Sheikh Abbas Zgheib, who has been tasked by the Higher Islamic Shiite Council to follow up the case of the Lebanese pilgrims held hostage in Syria since May 2012, shied away from giving any information about their possible release.

In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Tuesday, Zgheib said: “We don't want to exaggerate about obstacles delaying their release or even signs that they could be set free soon.”

A pharmacist, who was kidnapped in the eastern Zahle district around two weeks ago, has been released, the state-run National News Agency said Tuesday.

NNA said Wissam al-Khatib was set free in his hometown of Kfarzabad in the central Bekaa valley around 4:00 am.

At least 15 Syrian shells hit several towns in the northern city of Akkar on Monday evening, the state-run National News Agency reported.

"As much as 15 shells have landed in several towns in Akkar according to the city's residents,” the NNA said, adding that no injuries were reported.

A scuffle broke out on Monday between two inmates in the Roumieh prison and security guards intervened to contain the situation, the Internal Security Forces announced in a statement.

“A personal dispute between two inmates at the convicts building of the central Roumieh prison erupted into a fistfight between a number of prisoners,” the ISF said.

A booby-trapped car containing many explosives was found on Monday evening in Beirut's southern suburbs.

"A booby-trapped blue Grand Cherokee car was found in Beirut's al-Maamoura neighborhood," the Army Command said in a communique.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon made a public service announcement on Monday on the reveal of the fifth suspect linked to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

"A new arrest warrant has been issued for Mr. Hassan Habib Merhi, who is accused to have been involved in the 14 February 2005 attack in Beirut,” it said.

The Phalange Party on Monday warned against turning the deadlock in the cabinet formation process into an “open-ended crisis that might persist until the date of the presidential election.”

The party cautioned that constitutional vacuum would “pave the ground for the rule of the stronger camp and return Lebanon to the rejected obscurantist era.”

Lebanon bid farewell on Monday afternoon to legendary singer Wadih al-Safi in a popular mass held at St. George Cathedral in downtown Beirut.

Several officials and music figures attended the funeral while Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi presided over the mass.

The relatives of the kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz region urged on Monday the abductors of the two Turkish pilots to allow the captives to contact their families on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.

“In light of the suffering we felt after the abduction of our loved ones, we call on the captors to offer their families a recording or any other method to reassure them of their safety,” they said in a statement.

The General Security arrested a Palestinian national on charges of belonging to a terrorist network, it announced in a statement on Monday.

It said that W.N. was responsible for forging identification papers, with high level of proficiency, for terrorists.