Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem directed a barrage of criticism at Saudi Arabia on Monday, accusing the kingdom of committing genocide with its airstrike campaign targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels and warning it will "pay a heavy price" for its involvement.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Qassem, said Saudi Arabia made a "strategic mistake" by interfering in Yemen's internal affairs.

The case of the servicemen held hostage by extremist groups in Arsal's outskirts will go through a “decisive week,” media reports said on Monday, amid the presence in Turkey of General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, Lebanon's top negotiator.

“Positive developments prompted Ibrahim to head to Turkey where he has spent a day and a night, during which he held talks with Turkish and Qatari officials on the case of the abductees,” al-Manar television reported.

The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon announced Monday that it has appointed Lebanese national Wajed Ramadan as its new spokesperson, succeeding the Egyptian Canadian Marten Youssef.

“Ramadan joined the tribunal in September 2009 and established the STL’s Outreach Office in Lebanon,” the court said in statement.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri discussed with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani the importance of unity against Huthi rebels in Yemen.

“The one-hour meeting (in Doha) tackled the latest developments in the region,” said a statement issued by Hariri's press office.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to make a televised speech on Friday afternoon.

The speech will be made during a rally in solidarity with “the brave Yemeni people and condemnation of the Saudi-American offensive” against their country, announced the party in a statement.

Nine Lebanese truck drivers, who had been stranded at the Syrian-Jordanian border following clashes between rebels and Syrian government troops, returned to Beirut on Monday.

A plane carrying eight truckers landed at Rafik Hariri International Airport before noon.

Lebanese politicians warned on Saturday against the return to war on the 40th anniversary of the start of Lebanon's civil war that killed more than 150,000 people.

“We did not end our civil war to precipitate our country into the furnace of Arab wars,” said al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri via twitter.

Saudi Ambassador Ali Awadh Asiri said ties between Riyadh and Beirut are strong, stressing he would not assess them based on the behavior of Hizbullah.

“Lebanese-Saudi relations are stronger than being evaluated by Hizbullah's behavior,” Asiri told the Saudi al-Riyadh daily published on Monday.

Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly informed the members of his parliamentary bloc not to make statements on the Saudi-led coalition against Shiite rebels in Yemen.

The Kuwaiti al-Anba daily on Monday quoted Berri as telling his visitors that he informed Development and Liberation lawmakers and members of his Amal movement to avoid positive or negative remarks about the Saudi air strikes on the Huthi rebels.

Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb announced Sunday that the eight Lebanese truck drivers who were still stranded in Syria have crossed into Jordan and are now in the custody of Jordanian authorities, as efforts continued to unveil the fate of a ninth trucker.

The drivers “are doing well and will arrive in Beirut tomorrow aboard a Middle East Airlines plane,” said Shehayyeb, who was tasked by cabinet to follow up on the case.