Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi stated on Saturday after meeting families of the Arsal captives that part of the thorny file could be heading towards the final stages of a solution, in light of reports that the kidnappers are trying to benefit financially from a set of new conditions before closing the deal.

“The efforts exerted to solve this file are immense, and part of the file could be heading towards the final stages of a solution,” said Rifi.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has rejected claims that Ankara is preparing to intervene militarily in neighboring Syria, local media reported on Saturday.

"No, there is no situation right now that requires Turkey's involvement," Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet newspaper. 

Hizbullah fighters backed by the Syrian Army reportedly took control of new militant positions on the outskirts of the Syrian al-Qalamoun town, which borders Lebanon.

Al-Manar reported that Hizbullah and the Syrian forces completely seized the outskirts of al-Juba town, which compelled Islamists militants to flee the area towards Ras al-Maarah, Fleita and al-Rahwa, along the Lebanese border.

Militants shot dead three Egyptian policeman and a retired officer in separate attacks in the capital of North Sinai, security officials said on Saturday.

Gunmen, suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group's affiliate in Egypt, shot dead two policemen in the town of El-Arish overnight Friday before fleeing in a vehicle, the officials said.

Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin defended on Saturday Hizbullah's intervention in Syria, describing the group as a resistance that participates in political life and aids a legitimate regime in Syria.

The ambassador rejected in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat comparison between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Hizbullah, stressing that the differences are “fundamental.”

Lebanese security forces reportedly bolstered their measures in Beirut's southern suburbs after obtaining information on a possible terror attack in the area.

According to As Safir newspaper published on Saturday, Dahiyeh hasn't witnessed such measures in a year as security members are thoroughly inspecting vehicles and passers-by.

Australian police said Saturday they had foiled an alleged terror bomb plot reportedly planned for Mother's Day, arresting a Melbourne teenager and detonating three suspected explosive devices.

Australian Federal Police (Agence France Presse) and their Victoria state counterparts raided a home in the north Melbourne suburb of Greenvale on Friday, arresting and charging a 17-year-old male.

Chemical weapons inspectors have found traces of precursors for the deadly VX and sarin nerve agents at an undeclared site in Syria, according to a European Union document seen Friday.

Maris Klisans, Latvia's permanent representative at the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), told fellow delegates at a closed-door meeting Thursday that the 28-country bloc had a number of "concerns" over Damascus's handling of its chemical weapons issue.

Turkey on Friday denied it had struck a secret new pact with Saudi Arabia to back Islamist rebels in Syria in a drive to bring down Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Reports have suggested that Riyadh and Ankara agreed a special pact to militarily and financially support Islamist rebels in Syria in an all-out effort to oust Assad from power. 

Despite the bloody conflicts raging in the Middle East, Central America remains the region with the highest number of violent deaths worldwide, a U.N. report showed Friday.

The Global Burden of Armed Violence report, published every four or five years, charts violent fatalities linked to conflict and other reasons across the world.