Fierce fighting raged for the third day in the mountains around the northeastern border town of Arsal on Monday as the army announced 14 soldiers have been killed in the battles and as efforts to reach a ceasefire were underway.

A military source told LBCI television: “We have allowed a temporary ceasefire so that a Muslim Scholars Committee delegation can enter Arsal and return with the hostage soldiers, which is the first condition for continuing the implementation of the agreement's remaining points.”

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil called on Monday on the international community to support Lebanon and offer aid to the Lebanese army to confront terrorism, considering the region to be stuck between Islamist groups and Israel.

“Terrorism is moving from an area to another but it will surely be buried on Lebanese territories,” Bassil said during a meeting for the Palestine Committee of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Tehran.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam described on Monday the situation in the northeastern border town of Arsal as “difficult,” expressing hope that ceasefire attempts would be successful.

“Our conditions are clear, gunmen must withdraw to the outskirts (of Arsal) and then outside Lebanese territories and all security members taken hostage must be released,” Salam told al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader Saad Hariri has expressed full support for the Lebanese army and security forces, saying he stood by them to regain control of the northeastern border town of Arsal.

“Neither the state nor us would stand idle to the destructive plots of Takfiri groups,” Hariri told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published on Monday.

Kataeb party ministers will propose during an extraordinary cabinet session on Monday a request to extend the mission of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon to include the country's eastern border.

“Lebanon should seek the U.N. approval to include Lebanon's eastern border with Syrian in Security Council resolution 1701,” An Nahar newspaper reported.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq voiced on Monday the complete support for the Lebanese army to rescue the northeastern border town of Arsal and its residents.

“Our choice is not arguable and any other stances are merely rejected and out of place and time,” Mashnouq said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas denied on Monday that regional countries were involved in talks to restore calm in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

“No foreign country intervened to restore calm in the area, but concerned lawmakers and residents are carrying out their tasks in this regard,” Derbas told al-Liwaa newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri has warned that the “fate of the nation was at stake,” saying the Lebanese army should be equipped with an effective arsenal to confront terrorists.

In remarks to several newspapers that hit the newstands on Monday, Berri said: “The country ... does not tolerate blurred choices.”

Hizbullah on Sunday noted that the militant assault on the Bekaa border town of Arsal enjoys “a foreign cover and domestic rationalization,” warning that it highlights “the threat looming over Lebanon.”

“The continued crimes that are being committed by organized terrorist groups, which enjoy a foreign cover and domestic rationalization, are indicative of the threat looming over Lebanon and all its people, without any differentiation between one region and another or one sect and another,” the party said in a statement addressing the situation in Arsal.

Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel on Sunday said that Lebanon should seek the protection of the U.N. Security Council in the face of the “foreign assault” on the Bekaa border town of Arsal, where a number of troops and civilians have been killed by gunmen who infiltrated from Syria.

“We offer our condolences to the families of the army's martyrs and we hope what happened will be a lesson for the Lebanese. This assault on Lebanon must be stopped and all measures must be taken to that end,” Gemayel said in remarks to MTV.