After apricots, meat pastries and toothpaste proved futile, another creative attempt to smuggle hashish into a Lebanese prison was recorded Tuesday when guards seized a quantity of the narcotic substance that was hidden in “21 pistachio shells.”

“During a meticulous inspection operation, police guards at the Aley prison managed to discover a quantity of hashish that was hidden inside 21 pistachios that were among a kilogram of nuts,” an Internal Security Forces statement said.

Several people were wounded on Tuesday when Syrian fighter jets shelled the outskirts of the town of Arsal in the eastern Bekaa region, announced the army in a statement.

It said that eleven people were wounded the strikes.

The trial of fugitive Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and Islamist suspects arrested following clashes with the Lebanese army last year has been adjourned to next month.

The trial of al-Asir and around 40 detained men started Tuesday but was adjourned to August 26 after the court failed to summon all the suspects.

The Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers intensified their patrols along the border with the Jewish state as the Israeli military upped its presence in the occupied Shebaa Farms area, the state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

NNA said the Lebanese army stepped up its patrols on the ground and on the coast.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has said he was ready to pull the candidacy of Aley lawmaker Henri Helou if the other candidates decided to do so in an attempt to resolve the country's presidential deadlock.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper published on Tuesday, Jumblat said: “We should seek to safeguard the country by placing the nation's interest before any other interest.”

Turkey is seeking to host a conference for Muslim scholars in Istanbul during the upcoming days to reject extremism and violence and to safeguard Islam against the so-called "caliphate" that was declared by Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria.

A Turkish envoy held talks with several Muslim scholars and clerics in Beirut to invite them to attend a conference in Istanbul between July 17 and 19, As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The political crises gripping the state is awaiting the stance of al-Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri to restore activity in the parliament and at the cabinet.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Tuesday, Hariri will make a televised speech on Friday during an iftar hosted by al-Mustaqbal.

The Lebanese government has been reportedly cautioned by several countries to control the situation in southern Lebanon after another rocket attack rocked northern Israel for the fourth consecutive day.

A rocket fired from Lebanese territory hit northern Israel on Monday night, the Israeli army said. There were similar attacks in the past four days.

In the fourth such attack in four days, at least one rocket was fired Monday night from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel.

“Unknown individuals fired a rocket from the Ras al-Ain area, south of the city of Tyre, towards the occupied Palestinian territories (Israel),” Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

The Kataeb Party on Monday urged Lebanese authorities to show “utmost firmness” in dealing with the recurrent rocket attacks from south Lebanon against north Israel, warning that such activity might “quickly drag Lebanon into the region's conflict.”

Moreover, the party cautioned that the firing of rockets could undermine U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 devastating war between Israel and Hizbullah.