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.

Two Lebanese children were killed in a traffic accident in the southeastern African state of Mozambique, the state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday.

NNA said that Karim Mohammed Basma and Jana Shalha, who hail from the southern town of Ain Baal, were travelling with their families to South Africa in a mini-van when the vehicle flipped over due to a flat tire.

The northern city of Tripoli enjoyed a cautious calm on Saturday morning after intermittent sniper fire that continued to terrify residents of the neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen and nearby areas left one person dead at dawn.

Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said one person was killed overnight from sniper fire that had a lower intensity than the past days.

Al-Mustaqbal movement rejects violence and gives its political backing to the army to thwart any attempt to create instability, al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader Fouad Saniora told personalities in the northern city of Tripoli.

Saniora, who returned from a vacation abroad, held a series of phone conversations with Premier Najib Miqati, Tripoli lawmakers and Mufti Sheikh Malek al-Shaar, his sources told An Nahar on Saturday.

Russia on Friday voiced its rejection of any interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs, in the wake of the deadly clashes that erupted in the northern city of Tripoli.

“Moscow is very concerned over the situation in Tripoli … and urges all parties to halt violence and respect the ceasefire reached on Wednesday with the support of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Miqati,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state RIA Novosti news agency.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut on Friday said it was “very concerned by the continuing violence in Tripoli,” adding that “Assad regime officials should be held accountable for involvement in alleged attempts to destabilize Lebanon.”

The embassy expressed its “sincere condolences for the loss of life,” calling on all parties to “exercise restraint and respect for Lebanese security and stability.”

Five gunmen in a Grand Cherokee SUV on Friday kidnapped Syrian national Ata Hassan Alloush, 32, state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said the gunmen abducted Alloush from his vegetable greenhouse at the intersection of the Baalbek town of Iaat and took him to an unknown location.