The army on Friday defused an explosive device weighing around 50 kilograms in the Bekaa border town of Arsal.

The bomb was discovered as an army force was conducting an inspection patrol in the Arsal area of Ras al-Sarj, according to an army statement.

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour briefed on Friday the relatives of Arsal captives, who are holding a sit-in on the eastern Dahr al-Baydar road, on cabinet discussions regarding the abduction ordeal.

“They have the right to know everything and the government's stance on this case,” Abou Faour told reporters.

The Ministry of Energy announced on Friday that the first plane tasked with carrying out an aerial survey of Lebanon's offshore gas and oil arrived in the country.

The plane arrived as part of an agreement between the Ministry and the GEOS Solutions LLC on January 10.

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab and head of the syndicate of private schools teachers in Lebanon Nehme Mahfoud stressed on Friday that the academic year will not be similar to the previous one.

“We will cooperate with teachers to grant them their rights,” Bou Saab told reporters during a press conference after a meeting with a delegation from the Teachers Syndicate.

The military police arrested on Friday a number of Syrian suspects in raids it carried out in the Antelias areas north of Beirut.

Media reports said that the raids were carried out near the Golden Beach resort.

Speaker Nabih Berri revealed on Friday that the main reason for referring the new wage scale to the joint parliamentary committees was the objection expressed by the army over the controversial pay raise draft-law for the public sector.

“The reservations expressed by the military corps was the cause of sending back the draft-law to the joint parliamentary committees,” Berri told various local newspapers.

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab expressed the cabinet's opposition to the establishment of camps for Syrian refugees, warning of the repercussions of such a development on Lebanon, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday.

He explained: “The cabinet supports resolving the case of refugees, but it is against setting up the camps.”

A Lebanese man kidnapped Wednesday in the outskirts of the Bekaa town of Arsal was freed on Thursday by his abductors.

“Maher al-Amatouri, who was nabbed from Wadi Hmeid in Arsal's outskirts, has been released,” LBCI TV reported on Thursday evening.

The Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front on Thursday poured cold water on recent optimism in Lebanon over the case of the captive troops, noting that it has not pledged not to execute more soldiers, only hours after the Lebanese government said it expects positive news “in the coming days.”

“Recent reports on Lebanese media outlets alleging that we have pledged not to kill any captive soldier are baseless, and no one is authorized to represent us or negotiate on our behalf,” the group said in a statement published on its official Twitter account.

Army chief General Jean Qahwaji on Thursday said he expects the eruption of a “new battle” with jihadist militants in the outskirts of the Bekaa border town of Arsal, revealing that the army has “detected” the presence of a terror cell in the northern city of Tripoli.

“The Lebanese army has reinforced its deployment on Arsal's hills and isolated the town from its outskirts, in order to besiege the gunmen and prevent them from receiving any supplies,” Qahwaji said in an interview with Sky News Arabia.