Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed on Thursday that he is following up the case of the abducted Lebanese in Syria and in Nigeria, pointing out that he will cooperate with the President and the Premier in all matters.

“I discussed the matter of the abducted Lebanese in Nigeria with ambassador Amos Oluwole Idowu and General Security Chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim,” Bassil said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

President Michel Suleiman noted that the Baabda Declaration has become a national charter after it was unanimously adopted at the national dialogue in June 2012, reported An Nahar daily on Thursday.

He told his visitors on Wednesday: “The Declaration is more significant politically than the new government policy statement.”

Israeli troops along the border with Lebanon were on high alert Wednesday night after Hizbullah threatened action over what it said was an Israeli air raid, Israel's army radio said.

"The military ordered farmers to stay away from the border... and there was movement of military vehicles around border communities," the radio said.

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour announced on Wednesday that the ministerial panel tasked with drafting a policy statement has reached a “satisfactory formula” regarding mentioning the Baabda Declaration in the draft.

"We reached a satisfactory formula over the Baabda Declaration which respects all parties' stances,” Abou Faour told reporters after the committee's sixth meeting at the Grand Serail.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Wednesday stressed that “the presidential election will definitely happen on time,” noting that a “consensual president” would be a “weak president.”

“The elections will definitely take place on time,” Aoun said during an interview on NBN television.

The Internal Security Forces on Wednesday raided a storehouse in Ashrafieh that contained large quantities of expired foodstuffs.

“The Beirut Third Regional Brigade and the Beirut Investigation Department obtained information about the presence of spoiled foodstuffs at a depot in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Sioufi,” the ISF said in a statement.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated on Wednesday that he supports electing a “consensual” president, remarking also that there is a great possibility to reach “an acceptable ministerial policy statement formula.”

"We can reach an agreement on an unacceptable formula to mention the resistance in the ministerial policy statement as Arabic is a rich language and allows for this,” Jumblat said in an interview with Future TV.

The army on Wednesday arrested a commander of the extremist al-Nusra Front in the Bekaa and an official of the al-Taqwa Islamic Social Association in Beirut's Corniche al-Mazraa.

“Army intelligence agents arrested in Masharii al-Qaa Nidal Sweidan, a Syrian commander of al-Nusra Front and chief of operations in the border area," Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said.

Dozens of inmates in the Roumieh prison went on a hunger strike on Wednesday to protest the jail administration’s “mistreatment.”

"Around 50 prisoners went on a hunger strike to protest what they described as Roumieh administration’s ill-treatment of the detainees,” LBCI television reported.

The Trial Chamber at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has “ordered the adjournment of the trial sessions until at least early to mid-May to allow Defense counsel for Hassan Habib Merhi adequate time to prepare for trial and to conduct their own investigations,” the STL said on Wednesday.

The chamber issued its written decision on Tuesday following the oral ruling of February 11 on the joinder of the Merhi case to the Ayyash et al. case.