A previous political adviser to the King of Saudi Arabia has been freed early this month after being abducted from his own house in the northern Metn District of Mount Lebanon and held hostage for one day, the An-Nahar daily reported on Saturday.

In an phone interview to the daily, Ahmed al-Ajaji said: “On March the 9th I was sleeping at my own home in the Beit Misk project and woke up later to find myself somewhere else,” he believes that he was drugged and taken a hostage.

Jordanian King Abdullah II expressed fear on Saturday over the situation in Lebanon, deeming that it's the most affected by the ongoing conflict in neighboring country Syria.

“Our hearts are with Lebanon as it is affected the most by the Syrian crisis in light of the demographic structure,” the king said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

Clergymen are preparing for a Muslim-Christian conference to denounce extremism and defend the presence of Christians in the Middle East, As Safir newspaper reported on Saturday.

According to the newspaper, the Muslim Scholars Coalition and the Muslim Scholars of the Levant are holding talks with various religious and political figures in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan to prepare for the conference.

A security plan was established to restore calm in the northern city of Tripoli after the death toll rose to 25 as clashes flared again,

Minister of Social Affairs Rashid Derbas revealed in comments published in An Nahar newspaper on Saturday that a comprehensive security was established and will be discussed during a meeting for the Higher Defense Council.

Hizbullah will not attend the national dialogue session set to be held on March 31 at the Baabda Palace, local newspapers reported on Saturday.

A Hizbullah source hinted in comments published in al-Liwaa newspaper that the party prefers to participate in a session headed by a new president other than Michel Suleiman.

Shells fired from Syria landed on several areas in the northern border region of Wadi Khaled on Friday evening, the state-run National News Agency reported.

"Several shells hit the outskirts of the Buqaiaa town in Wadi Khaled near the old railway,” the NNA said.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Friday received a phone call from U.S. president Barack Obama who congratulated him over the new cabinet's formation.

Obama stressed during the call on the importance of holding the presidential elections on time, before the constitutional deadline.

The March 14 General Secretariat on Friday called on the government to file complaints with the Arab League and the U.N. over the latest Syrian shelling of border areas, urging Hizbullah to take a “clear and frank stance over the Syrian regime's attacks.”

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the general secretariat said it “thoroughly discussed the Syrian regime's recurrent violation of Lebanese sovereignty through ground and aerial shelling and its assassination and chasing of innocent Lebanese citizens with military helicopters.”

A Lebanese and a Syrian shepherd were killed on Friday after Syrian forces opened fire on them on the outskirts of neighboring towns in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Yasser Mohammed Yassine, a 44-year-old Lebanese, and his Syrian relative, Ahmed Nader, from the town of Kfaryabous were killed on the outskirts of Anjar and Majdal Anjar, a security source said.

The northern city of Tripoli was witnessing fierce clashes on Friday as the casualty toll from nine days of fighting rose to at least 25 dead and 175 wounded amid a call for a unilateral ceasefire and intensive political contacts to end the violence.

"After we held contacts with the army command in the North, we asked the leaders of Bab al-Tabbaneh and the neighboring areas to cease fire starting 10:00 PM and the army must respond to any source of gunfire," MP Mohammed Kabbara said after an emergency meeting for the Islamic National Gathering at his residence.