Hizbullah reportedly abducted three high-ranking members from the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper reported on Monday.

According to sources, Hizbullah abducted the three officials in Syria's al-Qalamun region, where Hizbullah has been taking part in the fighting to aid President Bashar Assad's troops.

Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees have traveled to Iraq to join the Islamic State group's fighters and to train there to set up terrorist cells in Lebanon, An Nahar daily reported on Monday.

The fighters have been traveling to Iraq since mid-June, the newspaper quoted informed officials as saying.

The al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front will reportedly keep the Shiite Lebanese hostages it had kidnapped last month in the northeastern border town of Arsal, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday.

Sources told the newspaper that jihadists will soon free Sunni, Christian and Druze abductees but will keep the Shiites in their custody.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq is expected to visit Moscow on September 18 to sign a deal to buy military equipment for the Internal Security Forces, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday.

Lebanon will buy the equipment from a recently announced $1 billion Saudi grant to Lebanon, it said.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam expressed surprise at instigation campaigns carried out by certain parties over the case of Lebanese soldiers and security forces members taken captive by jihadists in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper published on Monday, Salam warned against turning the issue into a “sectarian strife through irresponsible behavior.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Sunday said that a ministerial panel tasked with following up on the issue of the abducted troops was pressing on with its work “away from the media spotlight,” as the Muslim Scholars Committee promised “good news.”

During a high-level security meeting at the Grand Serail, Salam expressed relief over the release of five hostage soldiers on Saturday, hoping the ongoing efforts will soon lead to the freeing of the rest of captive army soldiers and policemen.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Sunday stressed that putting an end to the presidential void must be a “priority,” noting that the Taef Accord should be “implemented” rather than “manipulated.”

“The election of a new president should be a priority because the confidence of citizens and the world in Lebanon would erode should we continue our failure to elect a president,” said Berri in a televised speech marking the 36th anniversary of the disappearance of revered Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr, the founder of the AMAL Movement that the speaker heads.

Sirajeddine Zureiqat, a so-called spokesman of the Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, warned Sunday that “the battle has not yet started in Lebanon,” telling the families of the abducted Lebanese security personnel that Hizbullah is to blame for their sons' captivity.

“You must know that had it not been for Hizbullah and its foolish acts, your sons would not have been taken captive. Who other than Hizbullah has implicated Lebanon in the battle?" the fugitive Lebanese cleric said addressing the families on his Twitter account.

A suspicious car that had entered Lebanon from Syria was seized Sunday in the northern region of Akkar, state-run National News Agency reported.

“Agents from the State Security department of Akkar's Qobaiyat seized a white Honda SUV that was hidden in the village of al-Nsoub in the Jabal Akroum region,” NNA said.

One of the soldiers freed by Islamists on Saturday revealed that soldier Ali a-Sayyed, who was allegedly beheaded by the extremists, is in fact alive, various media outlets reported on Sunday.

Ibrahim Shaaban sad that he was informed by al-Nusra Front that Sayyed “was not beheaded, but he is still alive.”