The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant threatened on Saturday to execute Lebanese soldiers and policemen in its captivity as the families of abducted servicemen called on the cabinet to resign if it was incapable of ending the kidnapping ordeal.

The families held the government responsible for the execution of policeman Ali Bazzal by al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front on Friday, announcing an open-ended escalation across Lebanon.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov accompanied by Russian ambassador Alexander Zasypkin held several meetings with Lebanese politicians on Saturday, the National News Agency reported.

Bogdanov met with Free Patirotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun but he left without giving any statement, the agency said.

The Lebanese army targeted on Saturday posts for militants on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal with heavy artillery, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA, said that the shelling was accompanied by a reconnaissance plane that fired surface-to-air missile.

The al-Bazzal family called on Saturday on the state to start executing inmates linked to terrorist groups to ease the tension on the streets after the execution of captive policeman al-Bazzal by al-Nusra Front.

The family also urged the state to start the executions by murdering Amed al-Atrash and Joumana Hmeid, after al-Nusra linked release to the freedom of Bazzal earlier this month.

Speaker Nabih Berri described on Saturday the hybrid electoral draft-law that combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems as “the best proposal.”

He stressed that the division of parliamentary seats between the two systems makes it hard for anyone to predict the result of the elections, considering the hybrid law to have “comprehensive mysteriousness.”

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stated angrily on Saturday that the media outlets made a huge mistake when they leaked the names of the latest army arrests of the wives of Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and IS official Anas Sharkas.

“Leaking the names has deeply harmed and complicated the thorny file of the abducted Lebanese servicemen,” Mashnouq stressed to the al-Akhbar daily.

General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim is holding onto a decision to execute terrorists convicted by the Lebanese judiciary in retaliation to the death of Lebanese soldiers and policemen in the captivity of the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front.

A minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity to As Safir newspaper on Friday, said that Ibrahim insisted during an emergency security meeting at the Grand Serail on executing sentenced terrorists in retaliation to the execution of the Lebanese servicemen.

Former French Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Edouard Guillaud is expected to arrive in Lebanon next week on a two-day official visit at a time Lebanon is witnessing “intensive diplomatic moves.”

According to An Nahar Guillaud, who will arrive on Thursday, will visit Beirut to follow up the implementation of a $3 billion arms deal under a Saudi grant.

Hizbullah reportedly repelled an incursion by terrorist groups into the Lebanese eastern border village of Tufail, As Safir newspaper reported on Saturday.

According to the daily, armed terrorist groups tried to infiltrate into the town overnight but Hizbullah fighters in the village forced them to retreat.

The government decided Friday to engage in “direct negotiations” with the captors of the Lebanese troops and policemen, as the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front announced in a vague statement that the execution of the soldier Ali al-Bazzal is “the least response” that can be expected from the group.

Al-Nusra also threatened to murder more servicemen if Lebanese authorities do not release “sisters” detained in Lebanon, in an apparent reference to Saja al-Dulaimi, a divorcee of Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and Alaa al-Oqaili, the wife of top Islamist militant Abu Ali al-Shishani.