Economy and Trade Minister Nicolas Nahhas said on Tuesday that the government’s approval of the new wages scale for public teachers isn’t “easy.”

“I understand the warnings issued by the Syndicate Coordination Committee but the matter isn’t easy as it will radically affect the economy of Lebanon,” Nahhas told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

At least four people were killed and dozens others wounded, including an army officer and four troops, as clashes and sniper fire renewed on Tuesday in the rival Tripoli districts of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh.

"The clashes are continuing," an army spokesman said in the early evening, while the military said in a statement that soldiers were "chasing gunmen and have seized a quantity of guns, bombs and ammunition."

The Turkish national, Abdul-Basset Arslan, who was kidnapped in Beirut on Friday, is held by the families of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims who were seized in Syria in May.

“We obtained information that the families of the 11 abducted men kidnapped Arslan,” an official source told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati denied on Tuesday that the government didn’t fail in following up the case of the Lebanese kidnapped in Syria, stressing that resolving it is a priority.

“We are following up the issue with regional and foreign countries, in particular, with the Turkish officials to ensure the safe return of the abductees,” Miqati told As Safir newspaper.

A ministerial committee tasked with following up the case of the kidnapped Lebanese in Syria held a meeting on Tuesday without issuing a statement.

Labor Minister Salim Jreissati said after the talks that the next session will be held at Interior Minister Marwan Charbel’s office on Friday.

Al-Jadeed TV denied on Tuesday that its reporter Youmna Fawwaz was kidnapped in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo while covering the severe fighting between government troops and armed rebels.

Fawwaz headed from Syria towards the Turkish territories on Monday night, al-Jadeed said. “She contacted us at 7:00 am from Turkish territories where she is being interrogated by security authorities on how she entered Syria.”

U.S. authorities on Monday announced the seizure of $150 million allegedly linked to a scheme by Hizbullah to launder proceeds from drug trafficking and other crimes.

The money came from an American bank account used by the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) to conduct U.S. currency transactions, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart said.

The Syrian judiciary has issued arrest warrants for Lebanese figures "on charges of backing and financing armed groups," Sky News Arabia reported on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Damascus' First Attorney-General Mohammed Marwan al-Loji said in an interview with al-Manar television that “the Syrian judicial authorities are preparing arrest warrants for several Lebanese political figures, including lawmakers, on charges of providing all sorts of support to the armed terrorist groups in Syria, such as the trafficking of weapons and gunmen.”

Armed clashes erupted on Monday between the rival Tripoli districts of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh “over the launching of fireworks,” LBCI television reported.

Half an hour later, LBCI said the army managed to contain the situation.

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Lebanon next month will go ahead as scheduled, the Vatican said on Monday, despite tensions in the country linked to the raging conflict in Syria.

"The preparations for the visit are going ahead without any uncertainty on the part of the Vatican," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters.