The Phalange Party noted on Monday that the recent instability in Lebanon has made the state “appear like the weak and losing authority” in the country.

It said in a statement after its weekly politburo meeting: “The government must tackle the catastrophic repercussions the recent developments have had on the authority and image of the state.”

Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Monday the importance of allowing the Lebanese state to control the country’s decision of war and peace.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “We have no doubt over the effectiveness of the resistance’s rockets in displacing hundreds of thousands of Israelis, but the Lebanese people have the right to wonder about their fate and future in case a regional war should erupt.”

The ministerial crisis cell tasked with following up on the issue of the Lebanese abductees in Syria on Monday said it expects a positive development “in the coming days.”

“We spoke of the policy of silence and said that the event will announce itself and that happened when Hussein Omar was released and announced that the abductees are in good health,” Labor Minister Salim Jreissati, the cell’s spokesman, said after a meeting at the interior ministry’s headquarters in Sanayeh.

Several angry residents of the southern town of Sarafand on Monday blocked with burning tires the highway that links Sidon to Tyre to protest the murder of a jeweler.

Ali Khalife, who is the owner of a jewelry shop in Sarafand, was killed by armed men after they opened fire on him and stole a bag of jewelry he was carrying.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Monday the transcript of confessions of the informer in the case of ex-Minister Michel Samaha.

According to the daily the informer headed to the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch in July, saying that he has obtained “very dangerous information he would like to make.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country would launch a strike against Lebanon if Hizbullah provoked Tel Aviv.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday that a western diplomat conveyed Netanyahu’s message to the Lebanese government.

Head of the private schools teachers association Nehme Mahfoud reiterated threats on Monday that the Syndicate Coordination Committee will resume the strike if the cabinet failed to implement an agreement on the new salaries scale for the public sector.

Prime Minister Najib “Miqati stressed that the deal is ongoing, but if the cabinet failed to implement it we will hold a meeting and set an agenda to protest against the action,” Mahfoud said in comments to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Monday the Lebanese army was taking all measures to restore calm in the northern city of Tripoli which witnessed bloody clashes between rival groups in the past week.

In remarks to An Nahar newspaper, Miqati said Tripoli is heading to stability despite the limited violations taking place.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Monday that preliminary investigations indicate that the abduction of Kuwaiti national Issam Ibrahim Nasser al-Houti was not “politically motivated.”

“He wasn’t targeted because he is a Kuwaiti citizen,” Miqati told An Nahar newspaper.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel expressed optimism on Monday that the release of one of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria would set the stage for setting free more abductees this week.

In remarks to As Safir daily, he hoped that a new batch of abductees would be released in the coming days.