Prime Minister Tammam Salam and ministers of the Free Patriotic Movement are expected to raise the issue of the mechanism governing the cabinet’s work because of what they described as the “obstruction practiced by ministers of the Kataeb party,” the al-Akhbar daily reported on Monday.

During Thursday's cabinet session, Salam and FPM ministers will bring up the issue of changing the mechanism considering that “things cannot stay the way they are because of the obstruction of some representative parties, mainly the Kataeb, which are hampering a number of cabinet files,” the daily added.

Lebanon is to impose visa restrictions on Syrians for the first time after being overwhelmed by an influx of more than 1.1 million refugees, according to documents published online.

The new regulations, posted on the website of the General Security agency, come into effect on January 5 and lay out various categories, including for tourism and medical treatment.

A Palestinian fisherman was severely wounded on Saturday after the Israeli navy opened fire at his vessel off the coast of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

“A fisherman was critically wounded and admitted to the hospital,” a Palestinian medical source said.

A powerful blast from explosives planted in a tunnel under the Old City of Aleppo, in northern Syria, killed or wounded 20 government troops Tuesday, a monitor said.

Jabha Shamiyeh, a new rebel coalition in Aleppo, was behind the blast, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which was not immediately able to give a breakdown of the dead and wounded.

Sheikh Wissam al-Masri announced Tuesday after a brief visit to Islamic State militants in Arsal's outskirts that the group is demanding a border “buffer zone” to “protect” Syrian refugees in the area as well as a “hospital” for treating the wounded and the release of women prisoners from Lebanese jails.

“I met with the Islamic State officials in charge of the file of captives,” Masri said at the Riad al-Solh Square after meeting the families of the Lebanese servicemen held by the IS and the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.

Tens of terrorists have been reportedly killed and wounded when trying to infiltrate into Hizbullah positions in Assal al-Ward of Syria's Qalamun region near Lebanon's border.

According to Ad Diyar newspaper published on Tuesday, Hizbullah and the Syrian army ambushed the terrorist groups inflicting heavy casualties in their ranks.

Head of the Kataeb party Amin Gemayel is expected to pay Saudi Arabia a visit upon the invitation of deputy Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, media reports reported on Saturday.

Gemayel received a phone call from the Crown Prince who congratulated him on the holidays and invited him to visit the kingdom.

Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun have resolved their dispute over the oil file, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Saturday.

It said that the two sides agreed to issue contracts over the oil fields adjacent to the Israeli blocks after the speaker had warned that the neighboring state could exploit Lebanon's offshore wealth.

Iran's visiting Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Monday that Hizbullah is an active movement and plays a positive role in the region.

“Some movements are more effective than states. Hizbullah is an example. It plays a positive role in the region,” he said.

The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution Friday asking Israel to pay Lebanon over $850 million in damages for an oil spill caused by an Israeli air force attack on oil storage tanks during its war with Hizbullah in July 2006.

The assembly voted 170-6 in favor of the resolution, with three abstentions. Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and Marshall Islands voted "no."