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.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Monday stressed that the government will not bow to “the blackmail of terrorism,” after the abductors of the Lebanese servicemen threatened to murder seven of them.

“Terrorism is trying to impose its conditions on us and there is suffering, but we have to mend the wounds of the families” of the hostages, Salam said at a reception organized by the Lebanese community in Dubai, where he arrived earlier in the day for a two-day official visit.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon heard on Monday the testimony of Shouf MP Marwan Hamadeh in the Feb. 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, at the start of evidence provided by Lebanese politicians and influential figures on Syria's alleged complicity in the killing.

Hamadeh said Hariri played a major role in the negotiations that led to the adoption of the Taef Accord in 1989. But the agreement “wasn't enforced because of political conflicts.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat hailed on Monday the efforts of Health Minister Wael Abou Faour regarding food safety in Lebanon, stressing his party's keenness on the interests of the people.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “The battle waged by the PSP will not halt, but it will continue to tackle different aspects of food safety.”

The relatives of abducted soldiers and policemen briefly blocked on Monday several roads in the capital Beirut to demand the judiciary to lift sanctions against several Islamist inmates after jihadists threatened to start killing the captives.

The families blocked Beirut's Saifi road and near the port by setting tires on fire.

A Lebanese man succumbed to his injuries on Monday after his wife was killed and his son injured over the weekend during clashes between the Lebanese army and a number of gunmen west of Baalbek, which prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to urge calm and promise that the culprits will be brought to justice.

Sobhi Fakhri, who was in critical condition, died at Dar al-Amal hospital.

A parliamentary committee tasked with discussing the country's new electoral law kicked off on Monday its first session with an agreement to wrap up the matter within a month.

“If the electoral committee didn't reach an agreement within a month, then Speaker Nabih Berri will propose on the parliament to deliberate on all draft-laws,” MP Robert Ghanem, who is affiliated to the March 14 alliance, told reporters in Ain el-Tineh after the meeting.

The army reportedly detained overnight four terrorist kingpins in the Bekaa town of Chtaura.

The arrest occurred while the four men were passing in the town, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported on Monday.