Fugitive Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi confirmed on Wednesday that he left the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh ending speculations over his whereabouts.

“We only left Ain el-Hilweh to avoid the shed of Muslim blood,” Mawlawi said via his account on Twitter.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat were quick to react on Wednesday to Hizbullah's attack against an Israeli military vehicle in the Shebaa Farms, warning that Lebanon is headed towards a “turbulent” period.

The Foreign Ministry meanwhile condemned Israel's shelling of Lebanese territory.

Speaker Nabih Berri postponed on Wednesday a parliamentary session to elect a new president to February 18 over lack of quorum.

The 18th session was adjourned over ongoing disagreements between the rival parties on the character of the presidential candidate.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven wounded on Wednesday in a Hizbullah attack on a military convoy in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

The Israeli army announced that two of its troops were killed, while a spokesman said seven Israeli soldiers were “lightly-to-moderately wounded” in the attack.

As the tour group made its way through the narrow alleys of the seaside city of Tripoli, marveling at its medieval architecture, residents stared back at a sight that for them was just as exotic — visitors in their poor, restive corner of Lebanon.

"Foreigners!" residents called out to each other as the group of around 30 Lebanese and foreign tourists made their way through the Old City's labyrinth of cobblestone alleys, snapping pictures of centuries-old archways and graceful minarets. "We put you on our heads!" coffee seller Abu Mohammed, 65, said, using a traditional Arabic greeting for honored guests.

The families of abducted soldiers and policemen cited on Wednesday progress in the negotiations between the Lebanese state and the abductors of the servicemen.

According to al-Mustaqbal newspaper, the relatives expressed relief over the near end of the abduction ordeal, expressing belief that a deal has been reached between negotiators to release a captive servicemen in return for three Roumieh prison inmates and women prisoners in Syria's jails.

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri has paid tribute to Saudi King Abdullah, who passed away last week, saying the monarch had been keen on preserving Lebanon's stability.

Abdullah “had made exceptional efforts over the past years to preserve the security and stability of Lebanon and stop it from sliding into the wars and storms that raged in the region and threatened to expand to our country,” Hariri told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published on Wednesday.

A Palestinian member of the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, also known as al-Ahbash, was killed on Wednesday at the southern refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said unknown assailants gunned down Issa Fares at the camp's grocery market.

Israel and Hizbullah boosted security measures on Wednesday as tension soared along Lebanon's southern border tens days after an Israeli airstrike against a Hizbullah convoy, which killed six fighters.

The state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes have been flying over the eastern sector since 2:00 am. The drones flew over Arqoub, Hasbaya, Rashaya and Mount Hermon (Jabal al-Sheikh) heights.

Speaker Nabih Berri reached an understanding with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to resolve two controversial files that had been a point of contention between him and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, a report said Wednesday.

Berri and Bassil, who is Aoun's son-in-law and a top FPM official, held talks on Tuesday in Ain el-Tineh for more than 90 minutes.