The Syrian army continued planting landmines along the Lebanese border as tensions have been on the rise there, An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday.

Sources told the daily that the measures taken by the Syrian army will include all the towns along the Syrian-Lebanese border to control all the illegal crossings to prevent weapons smuggling.

Jassem Merhi al-Jassem, one of four brothers kidnapped in Lebanon a few months ago, has been killed in Syrian captivity, reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

Nabil Halabi, head of the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, revealed that Jassem was kidnapped in Beirut and transported with his three brothers to Syria through a vehicle from the Syrian Embassy.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said on Monday that his position at the Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo doesn’t express his personal stance but that of the Lebanese cabinet.

“The resolution taken by the Arab ministers was adopted before the Arab committee, charged with following up the situation in Syria, presented its report to the ministerial council to be thoroughly discussed,” Mansour told As Safir newspaper in remarked published on Monday.

Cabinet is scheduled to hold two sessions this week, one on Tuesday and another on Wednesday, reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

It is expected to tackle the draft parliamentary electoral law and the restoration of nationality to Lebanese living aboard during its Wednesday session, which will be held at the Baabda Palace.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated that Lebanon’s position at Saturday’s Arab League summit “should not have been the same as Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.”

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Monday: “Lebanon was better off voicing its commitment to the Arab initiative on Syria.”

Former premier Saad Hariri on Sunday said “the justification attempted today for Lebanon's shameful vote in the Arab League is simply unacceptable,” in a clear reference to the remarks voiced earlier in the day by President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati.

“Those claiming to want to keep Lebanon neutral and shielded from Syria's repercussions have thrown the country in the middle of the storm and on the wrong side -- the side of murder, dictatorship and anti-Arab identity,” Hariri said on the social networking website Twitter.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Sunday called for “leaving behind the approach of resistance” against Israel and “endorsing the approach of defending the Lebanese state.”

He noted that armed resistance against Israel lost its purpose “after the 2000 Israeli withdrawal, the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers and the issuance of (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1701,” – which ended the devastating 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah.

Syrian expatriates in Lebanon on Sunday organized a rally outside the Syrian embassy in Beirut’s Hamra district in support for embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and to condemn the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria’s membership.

“The Arab League has died,” read a sign carried by demonstrators in front of the embassy.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati urged on Sunday all political leaderships to cooperate with the repeated calls to resume the contacts, whether through national dialogue or answering the people’s inquiries over the country’s future.

He said: “This government places Lebanon’s interest above all else and it does not seek to take uncalculated risks or exploit the Syrian refugees’ plight.”

The Israeli army is conducting intense training over a possible strike against Iran, which may possibly lead to a war with Hizbullah, reported the Jerusalem Post on Saturday.

The training comes at a time when the media spotlight has focused on a possible war between Iran and the Jewish state over the former’s nuclear ambitions.