Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora met on Tuesday with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, who expressed readiness to help Lebanon overcome its crises.

A statement issued by Saniora's press office, said the lawmaker thanked the Emir because “the state of Kuwait has always stood by Lebanon in all stages and has supported Lebanon and the Lebanese people at all levels.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi announced on Tuesday that a national pact will be issued after the monthly meeting of the Council of Maronite Bishops on February 5.

“The accord will focus on three constituents, which are the national principles, concerns and priorities,” al-Rahi said.

The Lebanese army said on Tuesday that it has arrested two suspects and seized weapons and ammunition from them in the area of Hrabta near the eastern city of Baalbek.

An army unit apprehended on Monday Hassan Ahmed al-Meqdad and Hassan Ali al-Meqdad, who is wanted on an arrest warrant for involvement in a shooting, the military said in a communique.

A 38-year-old first adjutant at the Internal Security Forces was killed on Tuesday and a sergeant severely wounded after their military vehicle slid off into a valley in Qartaba, in north of Beirut.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the flip over was caused by landslide due to the heavy rain.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon continued on Tuesday hearing the testimonies of witnesses linked to the February 14, 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Firefighter at the Bashura sector in the Beirut Fire Department Khaled Toubaili continued the testimony he had started on Monday during which he recounted the details of the firefighting operations at the scene of the blast in Beirut.

Speaker Nabih Berri postponed on Tuesday for the 9th time a parliamentary session dedicated to tackling several controversial draft-laws over lack of quorum.

Berri set the new day to March 4.

The Internal Security Forces on Tuesday described a media report claiming that a woman was gang-raped in Akkar as a “false rumor.”

“A rumor has been circulated about a gang-rape of a woman in the Bekaa. After a forensic doctor examined her, it turned out that it was just a false rumor,” the ISF announced on its Twitter page.

Unknown assailants opened fire on Tuesday at a car on Khalde highway south of Beirut, killing one person and injuring another.

According to the Traffic Management Center, unknown gunmen in a Jeep Envoy opened fire at a white Renault Rapid carrying the license plate 259312/M.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has personally telephoned Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to resolve the last knot preventing the formation of the new all-embracing government, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Tuesday.

But Aoun's stance on the rejection of the 8-8-8 formula and the rotation of portfolios among sects has remained so far unchanged.

Sheikh Omar al-Atrash, who is allegedly linked to the recent attacks in Beirut's southern suburbs, had confessed to moving two explosive-rigged cars to Beirut and his prior knowledge to the suicide attacks targeting Dahiyeh, a Hizbullah stronghold.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Tuesday, al-Atrash, who was arrested by the Army last week, testified that he transported people and cars from the Bekaa border town of Arsal to Beirut and handed them over to culprits, however, he didn't know the details of their scheme.