The founder of the salafist movement in Tripoli cleric Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal stressed on Sunday that Sheikh Bilal Diqmaq averted sedition in the northern coastal city, calling on the government to lift an arrest warrant issued against the salafist Sheikh.

He said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that tension surged in Tripoli after rumors that the army intends to raid his residence in the city and the house of MP Khaled al-Daher.

Al-Nusra Front handed on Saturday to the Qatari envoy three proposals in the case of the abducted soldiers, suggesting to exchange the kidnapped soldiers for the Islamists in the Lebanese and Syrian jails.

The army carried out raids on Saturday in the north where they arrested a suspected person in Tripoli and seized a weapon depot and issued a security document to arrest Bilal Diqmaq.

The Army Command stated: “During a patrolling inspection, the army found in Tripoli's Bab al-Tabaneh – Harba street a weapon depot contains 25 rifle, machine gun BKC, two RPG shells and various ammunition, hand grenades, and military materiel.”

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi called on Saturday for the implementation of the security plan evenly in all Lebanese regions and confiscating weapons from these areas, as it is happening in Tripoli. He also denied rumors about his escort transferring weapons to Arsal and stressed his support "to the government and the state institutions.”

During his visit to ISF member Deeb al-Lahhab, Rifi commented on what was published by al-Akhbar newspaper about the arrest of al-Lahhab while transferring money to the gunmen in the outskirts of Arsal, which Rifi considered as “lies and slur.”

Muslims Scholars Committee delegation hoped on Saturday to resume their initiative in the case of the servicemen kidnapped by extremist groups, but with one condition "the government becomes the only guarantor."

It demanded, " an official mandate from the government."

Unknown assailants robbed at gunpoint on Saturday LL500 million from the Jammal Trust Bank's branch in the Bekaa city of Baalbek, reported the National News Agency.

It said that the gunmen, riding in two BMW SUVs, intercepted two bank employees as they were transferring the funds to the Central Bank branch in the city.

A delegation of the al-Mustaqbal Movement has traveled on Friday to the French capital in a bid to continue the negotiations that have been ongoing at various levels, al-Joumhouria daily said on Saturday.

The delegation included Nader Hariri, the adviser of al-Mustaqbal movement leader Saad Hariri, and a number of other consultants including former MP Ghattas Khoury.

Outside Lebanon's government headquarters, where relatives of soldiers and police captured by jihadists have held a weeks-long sit-in, a message on a photograph reads: "We are waiting for your return".

For the past three months, 27 families from across Lebanon have been brought together in anguish by threats by the Islamic extremists to execute a son or a husband.

Hizbullah and the AMAL movement's security measures in and around Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahieh will reach their peak as the tenth day of Ashura approaches on Tuesday, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

The residents of the area have voiced their satisfaction with the measures despite the traffic caused by the security efforts.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is scheduled to travel to the Russian capital Moscow next week on an official visit, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

It said that the lawmaker will head to Moscow on Thursday on a three-day visit.