Health Minister Wael Abou Faour revealed Saturday that Turkey has promised the Lebanese government to offer help in the case of the captive troops, noting that “some progress” has been made.

“Salam urged the Turkish state to intervene and Turkey has promised to act. I hope these (Turkish) remarks will help resolve this case,” Abou Faour announced at Dahr al-Baidar after meeting with families of abducted troops.

Al-Qaida's Syria affiliate, al-Nusra Front, called on the Lebanese authorities Saturday to discuss its terms for the release of troops and police taken captive last month, and accused Hizbullah of impeding the negotiations.

Al-Nusra Front killed one of the hostages who were captured in fighting in the town of Arsal near the Syrian border. Jihadists of the Islamic State group beheaded the other two.

A Lebanese man was lightly injured on Saturday when the army opened fire on him for failing to stop at a checkpoint in the district of Zgharta, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said that the soldiers manning the checkpoint in the town of Ashash inspected Barraq Ammar's car and did not find anything suspicious in it.

A Lebanese-born U.S. Marine who vanished from his unit in Iraq and later wound up in Lebanon for eight years will face trial on desertion and other charges, the military said Friday.

Maj. Gen. William D. Beydler has referred 34-year-old Cpl. Wassef Hassoun for a general court-martial on charges of desertion, larceny and destruction of government property, according to a news release from the Marines. No date has been set for Hassoun's trial at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where he is being held.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil has warned that the confrontation with terrorists will be fierce but expressed confidence in Lebanon's ability to defeat the jihadists.

In an interview with CNN during his stay in New York on the sidelines of the General Assembly session, Bassil said: “Lebanon will be an essential target for the Islamic State because it contradicts the IS and its allies.”

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stated on Saturday that he will call for the relocation of Syrian refugees out of the northeastern town of Arsal as tension runs high and clashes aggravate, As Safir daily reported.

“I will call for the relocation of Syrian refugees outside Arsal during Thursday's cabinet session,” Mashnouq said, “because things cannot stay the way they are.”

The International Support Group for Lebanon has condemned the hostage taking of Lebanese troops and policemen by jihadists in the northeastern border town of Arsal and reiterated a pledge to strengthen the Lebanese army to confront terrorists.

Participants in the meeting of the Group that was held in New York on Friday said that “the recent attacks by violent extremist groups in Arsal had highlighted immediate priority needs on the part of both the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) and the security forces, including in regard to border control and counter-terrorism.”

The al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front has announced that it would not negotiate the release of Lebanese soldiers and police unless the Lebanese authorities resolve the situation in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

The jihadist group, which took the troops and policemen hostage along with Islamic State fighters last month, said on twitter on Friday night: “There is no negotiation on our behalf in the case of the Lebanese soldiers being held captive until things are fully fixed in Arsal.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Friday called for regional and international cooperation in the fight against terrorist groups, urging Lebanon's "brothers and friends" to supply it with the "elements of strength."

"We must douse the flames of the raging blaze and prevent it from spreading," Salam said in a speech before the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

A “Syrian-Syrian deal” that is currently in the making might involve the release of the captive Lebanese troops, a media report said on Friday, as the chief of the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front in Syria's Qalamun threatened to wage “war” inside Lebanon.

“The negotiations have apparently matured,” LBCI television reported.