Prime Minister Tammam Salam called on the families of the abducted soldiers and policemen to prevent the rival political parties from exploiting their ordeal, describing the situation as “difficult and complicated.”

“I am not asking the relatives of the abducted men to trust the government, but I am asking them not to confront it... It's not the enemy nor the aggressor,” Salam said in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper on Wednesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri voiced his agreement with Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri's position that priority in Lebanon lies in electing a new president, reported the daily An Nahar on Wednesday.

He told the daily: “Political life in Lebanon will be stabilized with the election of a president.”

The Lebanese army and security forces expressed readiness to launch a swift operation in the northern city of Tripoli to arrest the group of two notorious fugitives Shadi al-Mawlawi and Osama Mansour.

“If the endeavors of Muslim clerics failed to end this phenomenon, then the army and security forces will intervene,” security sources said in comments published in al-Akhbar newspaper on Wednesday.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the explosion that took place on the Lebanese-Israeli border on Tuesday, deeming it a violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, reported the daily An Nahar on Wednesday.

He said that the blast goes against efforts to create a stable and secure environment in southern Lebanon.

Head of al-Mustaqbal Movement Saad Hariri is expected to meet with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Monday in the Italian capital Rome.

Local newspapers published on Wednesday reported that the meeting will tackle the presidential impasse.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Tuesday described the bomb attack that targeted an Israeli patrol in the occupied Shebaa Farms as a message that is “addressed exclusively to Israel,” although it came two days after fierce battles with jihadist militants in Brital's outskirts.

“The bombs were detonated based on the movements of the enemy's troops and this means that the resistance is ready and its eyes are open,” Qassem said in an interview on OTV.

Hizbullah was engaged on Tuesday in clashes alongside the Syrian army against Syrian rebels and al-Nusra Front in the Syrian town of Assal al-Ward near Lebanon's border, a few days after it repelled a major militant assault against Brital's outskirts.

“Clashes are underway between the gunmen and the Syrian regime army, which is being backed by Hizbullah, in Assal al-Ward and al-Jibbeh near Lebanon's eastern border,” LBCI TV reported.

A young man who hails from the northern city of Tripoli has been killed fighting alongside extremist groups in Iraq, where fierce battles are taking place between the army, allied militias and the Islamic State group.

“Young man Khaled Ahmed Ahdab, aka Abu Hamza, has been killed while fighting in Iraq,” LBCI reported on Tuesday, noting that he hails from Tripoli.

Two people were wounded on Tuesday by stray bullets during armed clashes between the Jaafar and Zoaiter clans in the Bekaa city of Baalbek.

Rocket-propelled grenades were also fired in the air during the fighting, according to state-run National News Agency.

An army soldier was accidentally killed on Tuesday while moving a shell at a shooting and training field near the port of the northern city of Tripoli.

The army said “a soldier was martyred when a military unit was dismantling an explosive device in Tripoli's Free Zone.”