The cabinet approved Monday a three-month renewable extension of operations at the controversial Naameh garbage landfill, amid reservations by the ministers of the Progressive Socialist Party, in a lengthy session that lasted several hours.

“To maintain public sanitation, the cabinet decided to keep the current plan in effect for another three months,” Information Minister Ramzi Jreij announced after the cabinet meeting.

The families of the kidnapped servicemen on Monday blocked Riad al-Solh road in Beirut's downtown and promised escalation, after al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front renewed its threats to kill one of the hostages who are in its custody.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed Monday that Lebanon's role is to “encourage dialogue and understanding among the Arab states, not to interfere in their affairs,” as he urged “domestic consensus” and “Arab support” for the speedy electing of a new president .

“Lebanon is going through a confrontation with extremism and our meeting with the delegation was an opportunity to talk about terrorism,” Bassil announced after a meeting with a high-ranking Arab delegation in Ashrafieh.

The Kataeb Party categorically rejected Monday any alteration of the cabinet's bylaws, insisting that any decree requires the signatures of all the 24 ministers amid the current presidential vacuum.

The party voiced its stance shortly before a cabinet session that was expected to witness a heated debate over the garbage crisis.

Syria on Monday denied a report that President Bashar Assad's regime is building a secret underground plant with the aim of developing nuclear weapons only two kilometers from Lebanon's border, state news agency SANA said.

"Syria denies these allegations," said SANA.

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat said on Monday that targeting Jabal Mohsen and the Alawites “serves the purpose of the Syrian regime,” as he strongly condemned the double suicidal bombing that rocked the pro-Assad Tripoli district.

He also stressed his support for Sunday's rally against terrorism in France while questioning the participation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Security forces said on Monday that they arrested a man suspected of murdering a young woman in the coastal town of Kaslik that lies north of Beirut.

H.H. was apprehended in the Bir Hassan neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on suspicion of killing Elianne al-Safatli near a nightclub in Kaslik, police said.

Security forces on Monday took full control of Roumieh prison's block B after storming the overcrowded facility and seizing illegal items from Islamist prisoners, with Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq describing the operation as a “victory for the state.”

Media reports said that prisoners at block B were all transferred to block D.

General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim inspected on Monday the Masnaa crossing in the eastern Bekaa Valley between Lebanon and Syria.

The tour comes in light of a decision by the Lebanese state to impose entry measures against the Syrians.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi has revealed that he asked the judicial authorities to refer the latest attack in the northern city of Tripoli to the Judicial Council as reports emerged that the suicide bombers received orders from top wanted terrorists Osama Mansour and Shadi al-Mawlawi.

Rifi told local dailies published on Monday that he gave orders for the attack on a cafe in Tripoli's mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood to be referred to the Council similar to the bombings of the Sunni al-Salam and al-Taqwa mosques in 2013.