The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch has freed a Syrian, who was kidnapped more than two weeks ago in the northern city of Tripoli, and arrested six suspects, the state-run National News Agency reported Wednesday.

NNA said Ramzi Youssef Labadi was kidnapped in Tripoli's al-Mina on Nov. 10, and his abductors had asked for a $200,000 ransom.

A driver was injured on Monday when several Syrian trucks came under fire in the northern city of Tripoli, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said Zakaria al-Basha, one of the drivers, was wounded in the dawn shooting that took place while his truck was passing under the pedestrian bridge in Tripoli's al-Tabbaneh area.

Several people were wounded on Saturday evening in separate security-related incidents in the northern city of Tripoli, media reports said.

In the first incident, the state-run National News Agency said unknown assailants fired gunshots at two citizens in the Souq al-Arid area in Tripoli, wounding them in the legs.

Residents of Libya's capital were turning out Friday to press militias remaining in the city to follow others and withdraw, aiming to keep up the momentum following deadly clashes last weekend.

The city council and students union called for a "large demonstration," while the authorities urged people not to march on sites occupied by militias, to avoid confrontations, and vowed to ensure security.

Lebanon celebrated Independence Day on Friday amid the growing threat of terrorism, the widening gap between Lebanon's political parties and the huge burden of the Syrian refugees.

The country marked 70 years of independence with an official ceremony staged in downtown Beirut.

By nearly all measures, Lebanon should have long ago buckled under the weight of Syria's civil war.

The fighting next door has swamped Lebanon with refugees and has stoked its Sunni-Shiite tensions, as each community in Lebanon lines up in support of its brethren on the rival sides in Syria. That has fueled predictions that deeply divided Lebanon is only one nudge away from collapsing into full-blown sectarian bloodletting of its own.

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim stated on Thursday that Lebanon is going through one of the “toughest' stages in its modern history, warning of the “great danger” that persists in the northern city of Tripoli.

"Maybe this is one of the most complicated phases on all levels,” Ibrahim said in a statement he gave to the Hizbullah-affiliated al-Ahd website.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has warned that the trial of the suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's 2005 assassination by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon early next year could make Lebanon's crisis worse.

In remarks to An Nahar daily during his official visit to Paris, Charbel said: “When trials start, there will be evidence that could affect the situation in Syria and could make the situation in Lebanon worse.”

The Higher Defense Council strongly condemned on Wednesday the twin blasts near the Iranian embassy in Beirut's neighborhood of Bir Hassan.

It revealed in a statement that it was informed from the heads of military agencies of the measures taken to maintain security at embassies, places of worship, and malls.

Leaders from the Libyan port of Misrata have urged militias from the city to leave Tripoli within 72 hours, after they were involved in deadly weekend clashes in the capital.

A militia of former rebels from Misrata who fought the regime of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 opened fire on protesters in Tripoli, sparking unrest that killed at least 43 people.