The Israeli army has revamped a training program for army logistics cadets to prepare them for any future war in Lebanon or the Gaza Strip and to avoid a repeat of failures in the 2006 conflict with Hizbullah.

The Jerusalem Post said the two-week exercise placed around 180 cadets in simulated combat conditions, in a bid to avoid the same critical logistics failures experienced by the Israeli army in the July war of 2006 with Hizbullah.

A cabinet session set to be held on Monday at the Baabda Palace will discuss a heated agenda concerning the appointments of top civil servants, local newspapers reported.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, the cabinet will approve the appointment of Beirut Police Chief Brig. Deeb Tbayeli, who was recently promoted to the rank of Maj. Gen, as the successor of Internal Security Forces acting chief Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous to grant him more years at the force ahead of his retirement on April 10.

President Michel Suleiman chaired on Monday a national dialogue session that stressed the importance of an agreement on a defense strategy given a rise in terrorist threats and amid a boycott by the majority of March 8 camp's representatives and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea from the March 14 alliance.

Suleiman had invited the rival leaders for a new session of all-party talks at Baabda Palace to discuss the controversial issue of Hizbullah’s arsenal or the so-called national defense strategy.

Interior Minister Nuhad al-Mashnouq has said that a security plan for the northern city of Tripoli approved by the cabinet last week will be implemented in the coming few days.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper published Monday, al-Mashnouq said the deployment of security forces in some of the city's neighborhoods in the past few days comes as a prelude to the plan which will be implemented within 48 hours.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Sunday that the LF will boycott Monday's national dialogue session because “Hizbullah is not ready for dialogue,” noting that he is willing to vote for Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun in the presidential election if he pledges to withdraw Hizbullah's fighters from Syria.

“We did not attend the 2012 dialogue sessions because we knew that Hizbullah was not serious about dialogue and that it would've been a waste of time ... In the past, the president used to be a mere moderator of dialogue, but today the president is practicing his constitutional powers and he has his say in things,” Geagea said in an interview on al-Jadeed television.

Hizbullah officially announced Sunday its boycott of a national dialogue session scheduled for Monday, after party chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah hinted Saturday that the group's representative was inclined to shun the all-party talks.

“We have informed officials at the presidential palace in Baabda that the party has decided not to take part in tomorrow's session,” head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad told al-Manar TV.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat announced Sunday that he and Speaker Nabih Berri will take part in Monday's national dialogue session at the Baabda Palace.

“We thoroughly discussed the Arab and regional developments,” Jumblat said after meeting Berri at the speaker's headquarters in Ain al-Tineh. He was accompanied by Health Minister Wael Abou Faour.

An improvised explosive device was dismantled Sunday near an army post on al-Mitain Street in the northern city of Tripoli.

“Lebanese Army units managed to defuse a hand-made and armed explosive device that was placed near the municipal stadium and a Lebanese Army post in Tripoli's al-Mitain Street,” state-run National News Agency reported.

The so-called Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade on Sunday published a picture of a man it identified as Abdul Qader Taan, describing him as the suicide bomber who blew up Saturday an army checkpoint in Arsal's outskirts.

“This is the picture of the martyr hero Abdul Qader Taan, who blew up the 'Crusader army' in Arsal,” reads the caption of the photograph that was published on the group's Twitter account.

Security authorities at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport thwarted an attempt by a Syrian passenger to smuggle captagon pills, the state-run National News Agency reported on Sunday.

According to NNA, 28-year-old Syrian, who was identified by his initials S. Aa. was trying to smuggle 5.72 kilograms of captagon pills into an Arab country.