Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stated that hopes are high on the release of the abducted servicemen and soldiers, an Nahar daily said on Sunday.

“The issue of the kidnapped soldiers is a top priority. I am following up closely on the latest developments related to their release,” Qahwaji told the daily.

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim stressed that the ongoing negotiations to release the servicemen who were kidnapped by extremists in 2014 are serious, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

He added however to the daily that these efforts “have not yet reached their happy ending.”

The Army Intelligence arrested al-Qaida linked al-Nusra Front member, Ali Ahmed al-Lakkis, who had executed soldier Mohammed Hamiyeh in the wake of the Arsal clashes in 2014, the LBCI said on Friday.

Lakkis, an expert at preparing explosives and close to the so-called emir of al-Nusra Front in Qalamoun Abu Malik al-Talli, was caught with a fake Syrian passport at the Rafik Hariri International Airport, LBCI added.

Saudi Arabia placed on Thursday a number of Hizbullah leaders and investment companies on its terrorism list due to their involvement in “operations throughout the Middle East.”

The Saudi Interior Ministry announced in a statement that 12 Hizbullah leaders and officials have been placed on the list.

Turkey's embassy in Lebanon has requested the security apparatus to tighten their measures at the embassy's locations in Rabieh in the wake of the latest confrontations over the Mount of Turkman northern Syria that led to the downing of a Russian plane, reports said.

“We have tightened security measures around most of the targeted embassies, and we have already embarked on that in the vicinity of the Russian and Egyptian missions,” an unnamed security source told al-Joumhouria daily on Thursday.

A meeting between Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and Hizbullah leader's political assistant Hajj Hussein Khalil has reportedly took place late on Wednesday where talks tackled the latest developments at the presidential level, reports said.

Despite the latest settlement that saw the possible nomination of Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh for the top state post, Hizbullah continues to support its sole candidate MP Michel Aoun, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

Brussels will remain at the highest possible alert level on Monday with schools and metros closed over a "serious and imminent" security threat in the wake of the Paris attacks, the Belgian prime minister said, shortly before a major police operation got underway in the capital.

"Various operations are underway" in connection with the "terrorist threat," police said.

Former Prime Minister and al-Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri stated on Saturday that Lebanon celebrates its Independence Day this year with sorrow and that the vacuum at the top state post is an insult to the Lebanese.

“The vacuum at the presidential post is the biggest insult to the Lebanese people on their national day of Independence,” said Hariri via Twitter.

Russian ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin expressed astonishment at the recent Russian request to divert air routes from Lebanon stressing that he had “no information on the subject,” al-Joumhouria daily said on Saturday.

Zaspykin said that he was totally surprised by Russia's request that Lebanon ensures that flights from Beirut airport avoid an area over the eastern Mediterranean for the next three days.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam received a congratulation letter from French President Francois Hollande on Independence Day in which he confirmed “his country's support to Lebanon to overcome the challenges facing the nation,” the National News Agency said on Saturday.

Hollande praised Salam's efforts in light of the difficult circumstances that the country is witnessing, saying that his country will continue its efforts to help Lebanon end the presidential vacuum.