The cabinet on Thursday decided to grant public sector employees a wage hike similar to that recently granted to private sector employees, and formed a ministerial crisis cell tasked with following up on the issue of the Lebanese abductees in Syria.

The wage hike will have a retroactive effect starting from February 1, 2012, pending the approval of the new salary scale, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq told reporters after the session.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned on Thursday the recent kidnapping of Lebanese nationals in Syria and the abduction of Syrians and other nationals in Lebanon.

He said in a statement: “A wrong cannot be solved with another wrong.”

Al-Meqdad clan announced on Thursday a halt to all of its military operations throughout Lebanon.

Head of al-Meqdad Association Maher al-Meqdad announced during a press conference: “As of this moment, we have halted all military operations because we have a sufficient number of Syrian captives affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, as well as the Turkish national.”

Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday stressed to visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius that “Lebanon is fulfilling its humanitarian duties towards the Syrian refugees and the Lebanese and Syrian peoples are like one people.”

“The abduction of the 11 Lebanese is the reason behind this antipathy, but the two peoples will remain brothers under all circumstances,” Berri added.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Thursday the importance of national unity during the current tense security situation in Lebanon.

He told reporters after the national dialogue session: “Arrest warrants will be issued against those who violated security in Lebanon and the airport road will not be blocked again.”

Journalist Joseph Abu Fadel was attacked by protesters on Thursday in the Masnaa-Bar Elias area, said various media reports.

They said that his car came under fire as it was passing through the area.

The interrogation of former minister and MP Michel Samaha continued on Thursday amid reports that the concerned authorities were going to broadcast before the media items that were seized from the official’s vehicle, reported the National News Agency.

The interrogation was conducted at the Military Tribunal by Judge Riyad Abu Ghaida and lasted an hour-and-a-half.

An obscure group calling itself Mukhtar al-Thaqfi Brigade claimed on Thursday that it kidnapped members of the Free Syrian Army in Lebanon after the spokesman of al-Meqdad clan vowed to abduct more Syrian nationals in retaliation for the seizure of a family member in Syria.

LBCI TV aired a videotape of alleged FSA members calling on Syrian rebels to release Hassan al-Meqdad who was kidnapped in Syria this week.

A national dialogue session was held at Beiteddine palace on Thursday during which the conferees agreed to “form a delegation comprising members of the dialogue committee with the aim of contacting the influential countries in a bid to secure the safe release of the Lebanese abductees” in Syria.

The delegation would also “stress keenness on the brotherly ties with those countries,” according to the closing statement of the dialogue session.

Kuwait urged all nationals currently present on Lebanese territories to leave the country “immediately.”

“All the Kuwaiti citizens currently in Lebanon should leave amid fears that the security situation might deteriorate in Lebanon due to the swift developments in Syria,” a source in the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry said.