A Lebanese man who was kidnapped in the Baalbek area of Hortaala three days ago, has been released, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.

NNA said Khaled al-Nashar was set free by his kidnappers after the mediation of the region's clans.

A bush fire driven by hot winds in the Baabda district forced the evacuation of residents and students on Monday as firefighters struggled to control the blaze.

The fire, which started at around 8:00 am in Betshay, sent smoke billowing into Baabda's sky.

President Michel Suleiman chaired on Monday a largely-boycotted national dialogue session, which called for continued talks on the country's defense strategy and stressed the importance of the implementation of the Taef accord.

The meeting was the last before his term expires on May 25.

Kataeb party leader Amin Gemayel is expected on Monday to officially announce his candidacy for the presidency, al-Liwaa newspaper reported.

The daily said that the announcement would be made after the weekly meeting of the party's politburo at its headquarters in Saifi and following planned talks with Metn MP Michel al-Murr.

Head of Public Secondary School Education Teachers Association Hanna Gharib has warned that public sector employees and teachers would hold protests again if lawmakers failed to approve the wage scale draft-law in its initial form.

Gharib accused all parliamentary blocs of standing against the public sector pay hike.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi expressed regret at the “shameful” criticism of his planned visit to the Holy Land to accompany the pope, urging the Lebanese to resolve their problems rather than create new ones.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published on Monday, al-Rahi said it was his duty to greet Pope Francis in his trip to Jerusalem later this month, in addition to church laws that a patriarch should make pastoral visits every five years.

Dangerous fugitive Ali Ammoun, who is involved in car bombings, has been arrested in the Bekaa border town of Arsal, state-run National News Agency reported on Sunday.

“The Lebanese Army arrested in Arsal a man called Ali Ammoun, who is one of the most dangerous fugitives who are involved in booby-trapping cars and sending them to the Lebanese interior,” NNA said.

President Michel Suleiman on Sunday called for turning the May 7 presidential vote into an “opportunity for accord and dialogue, unlike what happened on May 7, 2008,” warning against “dragging the country into a constituent assembly.”

“As the end of my term approaches, the worrying possibilities are surfacing. Why should every power rotation opportunity be turned into an occasion for fear over vacuum and the unknown fate?” Suleiman said in a speech he delivered at the inauguration ceremony of the Michel Suleiman Sports Village in Jbeil.

Three young men who hail from Arsal were shot and wounded Sunday at the hands of gunmen operating in the outskirts of the border town.

LBCI television said the incident happened in the al-Rahweh area in the town's outskirts.

The Internal Security Forces on Sunday seized 59 boxes of smuggled medications at an apartment in the Bekaa border town of Arsal.

“After obtaining information about the presence of a quantity of medicines that was smuggled from Syria into the town of Arsal, and following investigations, the Arsal police department managed to locate these medications,” ISF's Public Relations Department said in a statement.