Syrian authorities have announced the arrest of a former paramilitary leader who is the main suspect in a massacre of nearly 250 civilians by Assad-allied forces during the country's civil war.

A Syrian security source told AFP that Ali Kayali was apprehended in Lebanon during an operation coordinated with Lebanese authorities. Lebanese media reports said Thursday that the man was “kidnapped” from his home in Lebanon's Mansourieh and that his wife and son were tied up by the culprits.

Syrian authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of a paramilitary leader whose forces backed ousted leader Bashar al-Assad during the country's war, and who is accused of being the main culprit in a massacre of nearly 250 civilians, shortly after a Lebanese media report said the man was “kidnapped” from his house in Lebanon’s Mansourieh.

"The intelligence services have arrested Ali Kayali, who also went by the name Mihrac Ural, the main suspect in the Banias massacre of 2013, while he was attempting to flee across the border," state news agency SANA said.

The visit of Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Beirut, scheduled for Thursday, comes primarily to support the government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, diplomatic sources in Washington told Al-Jadeed television.

President Joseph Aoun on Thursday threw his support behind Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad following the complaint that was filed against her by a pro-Hezbollah lawyer.

Israeli opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Miniter Benjamin Netanyahu's main rival in upcoming elections, has revealed that Israel could have executed the 2024 pager attacks against Hezbollah much earlier and on a far larger scale, but claimed that Netanyahu delayed its execution.

"I pressured him to shift the focus of operations to the northern front, but he hesitated and was afraid to take that step," said Eisenkot, a former army chief who also served as a minister in Netanyahu’s war cabinet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Iran on Wednesday, warning: "If Iran attacks us, it will receive a blow it never imagined."

"As long as I am Prime Minister, I will not allow Iran to become a nuclear state," he told the Israeli army radio.

President Joseph Aoun has received a phone call from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, during which they discussed the current situation in the region in light of recent developments, the Presidency said on Wednesday.

“There was agreement on the necessity of supporting diplomatic solutions as the best means to put an end to the conflicts in the region,” the Presidency added.

President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed Lebanon’s wish to keep the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in south Lebanon, as he met with U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

Aoun hoped that the U.N. Security Council would approve Lebanon’s request to renew UNIFIL’s mandate for the coming year.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Wednesday that Israel is prepared to expand its “permanent” security zone in south Lebanon, evacuate Beirut’s southern suburbs and displace more than one million Shiites in Lebanon if Hezbollah joins any Iranian attack on Israel.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh and an accompanying diplomatic delegation arrived Wednesday at the Rafik Hariri International Airport, where they were received by a delegation from the Amal Movement led by senior official Khalil Hamdan, representing Speaker Nabih Berri, and MP Ali al-Meqdad, representing the leadership of Hezbollah.

Hamdan conveyed to the Iranian official greetings from Berri and the leadership of the Amal Movement, welcoming him to Lebanon, the National News Agency said.