The case of Lebanese hostages is expected to further complicate after a secret mediator in the case died while in the custody of Lebanese security agency, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.

Mustapha Behlok, who has been playing the role of mediator between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Lebanese state, was detained recently on Wadi Hmeid checkpoint in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

A man from the Jaafar clan wanted in the murder of a couple in the eastern Baalbek district died on Thursday after he was shot by the Lebanese army during his arrest, the military command and the state-run National News Agency said.

Ahmed Mohammed Salim Jaafar was injured on Wednesday night after the military ambushed him in an area between al-Yammouneh and Dar al-Wasaa.

Security forces are pursuing a Lebanese Christian who is allegedly affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), fearing that he might be used to carry out a dangerous terrorist act in Lebanon.

According to As Safir newspaper published on Thursday, security forces called the 28-year-old outlaw “Jack”.

The fate of the cabinet was still unclear on Thursday after Prime Minister Tammam Salam refused to confirm whether he set a date for a session to discuss the controversial decision-making mechanism.

Local dailies quoted Salam was saying that some ministers were paralyzing the cabinet over limited and personal issues.

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri left Beirut for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, after he stayed in Lebanon for twelve days.

Former “premier Saad Hariri left Beirut this evening for Riyadh,” Hariri's press office announced.

The Free Patriotic Movement lashed out Wednesday at former president Michel Suleiman, describing his election in 2008 as “the biggest stab to constitution.”

“The remarks that were voiced in a friendly Arab country by a Lebanese official who belongs to the past were unfortunate, especially that statesmen must be keen on the internal unity of the Lebanese during their foreign trips,” Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, who is close to FPM chief MP Michel Aoun, tweeted.

Security forces in the eastern Bekaa region arrested on Wednesday a Syrian for his involvement in recent clashes with the army, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Hussein Ghirly was arrested at a hospital in the Bekaa.

Customs authorities at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport have seized seven kilograms of drugs over the past few days, as a probe showed the presence of a quantity of items that bypassed customs procedures, the Customs Administration said.

“The airport's Customs department foiled an attempt to smuggle four kilos of a narcotic substance in the form of white powder into the country, referring the quantity to the Central Anti-Narcotics Bureau in Beirut,” the Customs Administration announced in a statement.

Former President Michel Suleiman and seven cabinet ministers met on Wednesday at Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel's residence in Sin el-Fil to discuss the controversial decision-making mechanism of the cabinet, rejecting the ongoing vacuum at the presidency.

Gemayel said after the talks: “The vacancy at the Baabda Palace would not have persisted had it not been for the coup against the constitution.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam noted on Wednesday that the failure to elect a president has caused numerous problems regarding the functioning of the government.

He said: “The obstacles standing in the way of government work and the debate over its mechanism are a result of failing to elect a president.”