Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has failed to reconcile powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper quoted an Iranian diplomat as saying that the efforts exerted by Nasrallah to bridge the gap between al-Sadr and al-Maliki, also a Shiite, have not yielded results.

Police arrested in the eastern Bekaa town of Brital a man wanted on 125 arrest warrants, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.

The Internal Security Forces International Anti-Thefts Bureau arrested on Monday at dawn Hussein Hassan Bou Mehsen after raiding his home in the town, NNA said.

The fate of the Lebanese soldiers held captive by the Islamic State group could see a glimpse of light after reports that the kidnappers might accept a deal to open a channel of negotiations with the Lebanese state, al-Akhbar daily reported on Monday.

The mediator negotiating the file of the soldiers was informed that the military Emir of the IS in the Syrian al-Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon, Mwafaq Abu el-Sous, sent a message to the “capital of the caliphate in al-Reqqa” promising a positive outcome with regard to the fate of the soldiers, the daily said.

French President Francois Hollande said during a visit to Beirut on Saturday that he was eager to make a third trip to Lebanon to meet with the country's new head of state, calling for the swift election of a president.

"I want to visit Beirut again when there is a president in Lebanon but the issue lies in the hand of Lebanese lawmakers ... who should resolve the deadlock and elect a head of state," said Hollande following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met with Jawad al-Shahristani the official representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday.

Discussions have focused on the “situation in Lebanon and the region including the latest developments at the religious and political levels,” NNA said.

The army arrested a Palestinian national on Saturday in north Lebanon on suspicions of smuggling people, an army statement said.

“An army patrol in the north arrested Mahmoud Nawfal Ali, a Palestinian, suspected of smuggling people of different nationalities. He was arrested along another Palestinian, Rabih Khalil Chehadeh, for not having identity cards,” the statement added.

The Lebanese army bombarded the positions of militants in the outskirts of the border town of Ras Baalbek, the state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday.

NNA said: “The army shelled suspicious movements of takfiri militants in the outskirts of Ras Baalbek,” where IS fighters and Syria's al-Qaida affiliate, known as al-Nusra Front, are active.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has renewed his gratitude to Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on the role that his country has played in releasing the Lebanese soldiers from the al-Nusra Front, but did not bring up the issue of the soldiers who are still held captive by the Islamic State group, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Saturday.

Sources close to Salam said that the PM took the opportunity in a meeting with the Emir, on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit, to thank him for the role that his country had in the liberation of the soldiers.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam returned to Beirut on Friday after taking part in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Conference and meeting on its sidelines with the leaders of Qatar and Turkey.

A two-day summit of leaders from the world's Muslim countries on Friday condemned what it called Hizbullah “terrorist activities” in some Arab countries while hailing the Lebanese army and security forces for their role in the anti-terror fight.