MP Marwan Hamadeh resumed on Tuesday his testimony before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, focusing on Syria's hegemony over Lebanon under the premiership of slain PM Rafik Hariri and examining his ties with former President Emile Lahoud.

The ties between Hariri and MP Walid Jumblat came into prominence during the debate over the extension of Lahoud's term in 2004, prompting the STL Prosecution to reveal that it is studying the possibility of summoning the lawmaker to make his testimony before the tribunal.

The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday noted that interpreting Article 24 of the Constitution would clearly define the stipulations of equal power-sharing between Christians and Muslims in state institutions.

“The interpretation of Article 24 of the Constitution can lead to passing an electoral law that respects the rules of equal power-sharing and truly reflects the will of the popular components,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr handed over the head of the Free Syrian Army command council, Colonel Abdullah Rifai, to the Lebanese General Security without charging him.

State-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday that Rifai was released from custody and will be handed to the General Security after his lawyer Tareq Shandab filed a request in this regard.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Tuesday that the presidential vacuum has placed burdens on Lebanon, calling for the swift election of a head of state.

Salam, who is on an official visit to Dubai, also said the extension of parliament's term earlier this month was not the best solution to Lebanon's problems.

Electricite du Liban contract workers blocked on Tuesday two major roads near Beirut, demanding their full-time employment and the payment of their salaries, but they ended their protest after receiving promises by the labor minister to resolve their problem.

The angry workers first cut the Corniche al-Nahr road, shouting pro-Speaker Nabih Berri slogans, saying he was “defending their cause.”

The Lebanese authorities officially informed the Qatari-appointed mediator, Syrian Ahmed al-Khatib, that it had agreed on the jihadists' demand to exchange each captive with five Islamist inmates and 50 female prisoners.

According to al-Mustaqbal newspaper published on Tuesday, the decision came in light of last week's crisis cell meeting.

Lebanon came in 14th place as a country most affected by terrorism in a list of 162 nations, according to a new global study.

The London-based Institute for Economics and Peace said Lebanon got a score of 6.4 and joined 8 other countries that saw increased terrorist attacks in 2013 when compared to 2012.

The army intelligence has detained a prominent Syrian figure in the northern Metn area of Bourj Hammoud after the arrest of four terrorist kingpins in the Bekaa town of Chtaura, As Safir newspaper claimed in a report published on Tuesday.

According to the daily, the Syrian is playing an important role in transferring money to the terrorists located in Lebanon, on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal and in the Syrian Qalamoun.

Speaker Nabih Berri has avoided a disagreement with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over his stance from the extension of parliament's mandate but said that the lawmaker has a valuable opinion on a consensual presidential candidate.

As Safir daily on Tuesday quoted Berri as saying that Aoun is an “added value to the joint strategic choices.”

Islamist fugitive Shadi al-Mawlawi reportedly fled Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood in the northern city of Tripoli to take the southern Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp as a refuge to prepare for a security operation in cooperation with wanted Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.

According to As Safir newspaper published on Tuesday, security agencies are investigating how Mawlawi moved from Bab al-Tabbaneh to the southern city of Sidon without being noticed, estimating that the fugitive was disguising in women clothes.