The cabinet will approve a salary hike for public sector employees during a session on Wednesday, Prime Minister Najib Miqati said amid a threat by the Syndicate Coordination Committee to hold a strike the day before.

The salary increase will come in accordance with an agreement reached by the members of the ministerial committee headed by Miqati, An Nahar newspaper said.

The kidnappers of Lebanese pilgrims in Syria have promised to release two of their captives as a goodwill gesture ten days after Hussein Ali Omar was set free, An Nahar daily reported on Monday.

A delegation of the Committee of Muslim Scholars that is in Turkey mediating the release of the pilgrims held talks with several Free Syrian Army officials who are based in Turkey, the newspaper said.

A smoking ban in Lebanon is likely to drive cigarette smokers out into the street but shisha smokers will find the most difficulty in taking their water pipes out of restaurants and cafes.

The ban entered into force on Monday in accordance with Law 174, which passed a year ago.

The Gulf Cooperation Council on Sunday called on the Lebanese parties not to drag their country “into the inferno of the Syrian crisis and its repercussions.”

During a meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah, the foreign ministers of the six GCC states discussed “the latest developments in Lebanon and stressed the importance of preserving its security, stability and sovereignty,” according to the closing statement.

Two gasoline bottles attached to firecrackers were found near the National University in the Mount Lebanon town of Aley, a security source told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) on Sunday.

The report came after the National News Agency said two large juice bottles were filled with gasoline and attached to a detonator, leading to a bomb scare.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour is in Mauritania for talks with top officials on the possibility of meeting with slain Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s ex-spy chief in his efforts to reveal the fate of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, An Nahar daily reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said that Mansour and his accompanying delegation that includes a member of the committee following up Sadr’s disappearance will hold talks with Mauritanian officials on Sunday and Monday for a possible meeting with Abdullah al-Senussi.

Syrian shells hit northern Lebanon on Saturday night hours after the Lebanese presidential palace announced that Syrian officials had vowed to hold accountable those responsible for cross-border shelling.

A Baabda palace statement said: “Syrian officials vowed through contacts made with them to hold accountable those who shelled (the northern district of Akkar on Thursday night) and apologized for the mistake that happened without the knowledge of (Syrian) authorities.”

A Turkish businessman kidnapped by al-Meqdad clan last month warned that his situation was “tragic” and appealed to his government to exert stronger efforts to release a Lebanese man abducted in Damascus so that he could go free.

In a short interview with An Nahar daily’s reporter from the place of his captivity, a frail-looking Tekin Tufan said: “I am tired and confused and trying to find out what’s happening around me.”

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle warned on Sunday that Lebanon was paying the price of the war in Syria and reiterated his country’s support for the Lebanese people.

In remarks to the Kuwaiti al-Rai daily, Westerwelle said: “We are watching the developments in Lebanon with concern and preserving our intense contacts with our Lebanese partners.”

A fugitive Lebanese-American businessman fighting fiscal corruption charges in Dubai has been returned to the United Arab Emirates after fleeing to Yemen, a spokesman said Saturday.

The return of Zack Shahin to UAE custody ends his bid to get American diplomatic assistance to return to the U.S. via Yemen and presumably escape a legal battle in Dubai dating back to 2008.