Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stated that Kuwaiti national Issam Ibrahim Nasser al-Houti was not abducted for political reasons, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

He told the daily: “The security agencies and army intelligence are doing their utmost to ensure his release.”

The head of the Syrian Relief Commission, Nabil al-Halabi, criticized the arrest of the commission’s office head Wael al-Khalidi, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Sunday.

He told the daily that al-Khalidi was arrested without an arrest warrant at Rafik Hariri International Airport on Saturday.

One man was killed and six others wounded in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday, as fresh clashes broke out between the rival neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, a security official said.

Three of the wounded were Lebanese soldiers who are deployed in the port city to quell tensions after fierce street battles first erupted last Monday, raising concerns that Syria-linked violence could destabilize the country.

Lebanese-French national Mohammed Hassan Sabra was released on Saturday in exchange for ransom, media reports said.

Unknown assailants kidnapped Sabra on Friday in the Bekaa town of Ferzol from the vegetable market.

The director of the Syrian Relief Commission, Wael al-Khalidi, was arrested on Saturday at Rafik Hariri International Airport, media reports said.

According to the National News Agency, al-Khalidi was arrested upon an arrest warrant issued by the examining magistrate in Bekaa.

Six Syrians taken hostages by al-Moqdad clan earlier this month have been released, the family’s spokesman Maher al-Meqdad announced on Saturday.

“This comes as goodwill gesture,” he told LBCI.

Hussein Ali Omar, one of the 11 kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims in Syria by armed rebels, arrived in Beirut on Saturday.

Family members and several officials including Interior Minister Marwan Charbel gathered at Rafik Hariri International Airport to welcome Omar.

Gunmen have kidnapped a Kuwaiti national in the area of Hawsh al-Ghanam in the eastern Bekaa valley, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

NNA said Issam al-Houti, 52, was driving his red Kia, which carries the Qatari license plate 20/27880, from Talya when the armed men followed him and opened fire near his feet as soon as he arrived to his rented house in Hawsh al-Ghanam.

Roumieh prison guards have thwarted an attempt by two former inmates to help a dangerous Fatah al-Islam militant flee, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

Palestinians Wassim Qumboz and Mahmoud Abdul Qader were meeting with Yemeni Salim Saleh during visiting hours on Friday when a guard noticed they were carrying a fake identity card with Saleh’s photograph on it, NNA said.

Khalde highway was reopened after being blocked over the death of Mustafa Ramez Shqaif on Saturday.

The angry family of Shqaif blocked Khalde highway with burning tires after he sustained severe injuries that led to his death.