The Lebanese army said on Monday that it arrested four people for kidnapping a man after forcing him into the trunk of a car in the northern city of Tripoli.

A communique issued by the army command said: “An army patrol in Corniche al-Mina on Sunday stopped a suspicious vehicle with four people on board after they tried to flee.”

An electoral draft-law was on Monday sent from Baabda Palace to Speaker Nabih Berri who in his turn referred it to the parliamentary committees to study the bill.

The cabinet approved last month the draft-law that is based on proportional representation and the division of Lebanon into 13 districts in the 2013 parliamentary elections.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati held talks on Monday with Lebanon’s Ambassador to Syria Michel Khoury over the ongoing Syrian violations of Lebanese territories.

He requested the ambassador to send an urgent message to the Syrian Foreign Ministry over Syria’s ongoing shelling of Lebanese border towns.

The cabinet will approve a salary hike for public sector employees during a session on Wednesday, Prime Minister Najib Miqati said amid a threat by the Syndicate Coordination Committee to hold a strike the day before.

The salary increase will come in accordance with an agreement reached by the members of the ministerial committee headed by Miqati, An Nahar newspaper said.

The kidnappers of Lebanese pilgrims in Syria have promised to release two of their captives as a goodwill gesture ten days after Hussein Ali Omar was set free, An Nahar daily reported on Monday.

A delegation of the Committee of Muslim Scholars that is in Turkey mediating the release of the pilgrims held talks with several Free Syrian Army officials who are based in Turkey, the newspaper said.

A smoking ban in Lebanon is likely to drive cigarette smokers out into the street but shisha smokers will find the most difficulty in taking their water pipes out of restaurants and cafes.

The ban entered into force on Monday in accordance with Law 174, which passed a year ago.

The Gulf Cooperation Council on Sunday called on the Lebanese parties not to drag their country “into the inferno of the Syrian crisis and its repercussions.”

During a meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah, the foreign ministers of the six GCC states discussed “the latest developments in Lebanon and stressed the importance of preserving its security, stability and sovereignty,” according to the closing statement.

Two gasoline bottles attached to firecrackers were found near the National University in the Mount Lebanon town of Aley, a security source told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) on Sunday.

The report came after the National News Agency said two large juice bottles were filled with gasoline and attached to a detonator, leading to a bomb scare.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour is in Mauritania for talks with top officials on the possibility of meeting with slain Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s ex-spy chief in his efforts to reveal the fate of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, An Nahar daily reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said that Mansour and his accompanying delegation that includes a member of the committee following up Sadr’s disappearance will hold talks with Mauritanian officials on Sunday and Monday for a possible meeting with Abdullah al-Senussi.

Syrian shells hit northern Lebanon on Saturday night hours after the Lebanese presidential palace announced that Syrian officials had vowed to hold accountable those responsible for cross-border shelling.

A Baabda palace statement said: “Syrian officials vowed through contacts made with them to hold accountable those who shelled (the northern district of Akkar on Thursday night) and apologized for the mistake that happened without the knowledge of (Syrian) authorities.”