The French judiciary on Thursday dismissed a ninth parole request submitted by detained leftist Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who has been in jail since 30 years.

At a protest outside the French embassy in Beirut, a spokesman for the International Campaign for the Release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah said the activists were notified by the prisoner's lawyer that the parole was rejected.

Customs agents at the Rafik Hariri International Airport discovered on Thursday radioactive material in a shipment of mobile phone covers.

The Finance Ministry announced that a shipment of 98 crates of mobile phone covers, imported from China, were suspected of carrying radioactive material.

The Lebanese army advanced on Thursday on the outskirts of the northeastern villages of Ras Baalbek and Arsal, establishing new checkpoints and surveillance posts, in a “swift” operation that left five troops wounded.

The military said in a communique that “army units deployed at dawn (on Thursday) on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek and fully controlled the heights of Sadr al-Jarash and Harf al-Jarash.”

An Israeli military unit advanced on Thursday towards al-Wazzani river on the southern border raising alert among Lebanese troops and peacekeepers, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said the 20-member unit was backed by a Merkava tank for monitoring.

Bassel al-Moussawi, who was abducted at gunpoint in the Bekaa town of Ali al-Nohri earlier on Thursday, was released, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The circumstances of his abduction remain unclear.

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.