Two members of the Internal Security Forces Narcotics Control Bureau were released at dawn Friday hours after they were kidnapped in the northern city of Tripoli, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said unknown assailants took the policemen, who were in civilian clothes, as hostages on Thursday night in the Tripoli district of Bab al-Tabbaneh.

The brother of a Lebanese journalist based in the eastern city of Zahle has been kidnapped for ransom, LBCI TV reported on Friday.

"The abductors of the young man Khodr Farouq Darwish, whose car was found in Baalbek's al-Taybeh, have called his family and asked for a $135,000 ransom," the TV network said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has informed the Lebanese government that Ankara is not willing to act as a mediator in the case of the soldiers and policemen who were kidnapped by jihadists last month, As Safir daily reported on Friday.

Turkish officials have also informed the Lebanese authorities that their rejection to mediate stems from the “sensitivity” of the case, Lebanese ministerial sources said.

Speaker Nabih Berri has refused to call for a legislative session before receiving guarantees from the rival parties that they had agreed on the controversial wage scale for the public sector.

Al-Joumhouria daily on Friday quoted Berri as saying that a meeting of the parliament's bureau should precede the session and that he would call for it only if he receives the long awaited solution for the raise.

Lebanon has been in a “defensive war” with jihadists because the country is unable to carry out attacks against them, Prime Minister Tammam Salam has said.

“Lebanon is part of the efforts exerted by the international (community) to fight terrorism,” Salam told An Nahar daily's reporter in New York, where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly session.

The Muslim Scholars Committee on Thursday called for a “transparent probe” into alleged abuse of Syrian refugees at encampments in the Bekaa border town of Arsal, saying Friday will be a “No to Slaughtering Arsal” day.

“We call for a transparent and impartial investigation into the abuse of innocents and torching of encampments in Arsal,” the MSC said in a statement issued after an “emergency meeting.”

An Islamic-Christian summit held Thursday at Dar al-Fatwa called on Lebanese parties to stop relying on foreign influence to empower themselves domestically, as it rejected the proliferation of arms in the country under the excuse of self-defense against jihadist groups.

The summit also stressed the importance of dialogue for preserving pluralism and addressing disputes.

A wanted man was killed on Thursday in a shootout with the Lebanese army in the southern city of Tyre, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said a military patrol was chasing a car with five passengers when they exchanged fire with the troops in the area of al-Bass.

The army intelligence referred to the judiciary on Thursday a Lebanese man who was arrested over the weekend in the eastern Bekaa Valley for his suspected involvement in an attack on the army.

The military said in a communique that it referred Hussein Abed Ali Jaafar to the competent judiciary five days after his arrest during a raid on his residence in Dar al-Wasaa.

An arrest warrant was issued on Thursday against a detained Syrian on charges of belonging to an armed terrorist group, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Military Examining Magistrate Judge Fadi Sawan issued the warrant against Amer Hamdoun before referring him to the permanent military court for trial.