General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim is awaiting the green light to head to Istanbul to tackle the case of so-called Arsal captives, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Tuesday.

According to the daily, Ibrahim only traveled to the United Arab of Emirates, denying talks about his trip to Turkey where he allegedly met with Qatari intelligence chief Ghanim al-Kubaisi.

A U.S. Marine who vanished a decade ago in Iraq was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for leaving his post there and then fleeing to Lebanon after a brief return to the U.S.

The judge at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Marine Maj. Nicholas Martz, ruled that Cpl. Wassef Hassoun was guilty of deserting when he disappeared in 2004 and 2005. Hassoun was also convicted of causing the loss of his service pistol.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam met Monday with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri as part of his endeavor to find a solution to the crisis crippling the work of his cabinet.

Media outlets said Hariri did not make any statement after leaving the Grand Serail meeting.

Lebanese authorities have foiled an “unprecedented” attempt to smuggle a huge quantity of cannabis by sea to Libya, the Internal Security Forces announced on Monday.

“Following close surveillance and investigations, the anti-narcotics bureau of the Judicial Police managed to seize and foil the smuggling of around two tons of raw hashish,” the ISF said in a statement, noting that the operation occurred on Saturday.

Speaker Nabih Berri announced Monday that he is encouraging dialogue between Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, noting that he would endorse any agreement they might reach over the stalled presidential vote.

“We had a chance to Lebanonize the presidential election, especially as the foreign forces were preoccupied with their problems,” Berri told a delegation from the council of the Lebanese Press Syndicate that visited him in Ain al-Tineh.

Israeli forces opened fire Monday from a border settlement at Lebanese farmers who were cultivating their land in the southern town of Maroun al-Ras.

“Israeli enemy forces opened fire from the Avivim settlement at farmers in the border town of Maroun al-Ras,” Lebanon's National News Agency reported, noting that no one was injured in the incident.

The Kataeb Party rejected Monday what it described as an attempt at “full coping” with the presidential vacuum through the ongoing efforts to find a new mechanism for the cabinet's work.

In a statement issued after the weekly meeting of its political bureau, the party lamented that lawmakers have failed to elect a new president despite having held 19 parliamentary sessions to that end.

The judges of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon have approved at a plenary meeting amendments to the tribunal's Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the court said in a statement on Monday.

“The amendments are designed to improve and streamline the Tribunal’s procedures,” the statement said.

Jordan on Monday delivered armored personnel carriers and gun motor carriages to the Lebanese army as part of “continuous cooperation” with Lebanon in the face of “the threat of terrorism.”

The vehicles were handed over at a ceremony held at the Beirut Naval Base, in the presence of Major General Nayel al-Raqqad, head of the strategic planning department of the Jordanian Armed Forces.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher revealed Monday that the United Kingdom is assisting the Lebanese army's land border regiments in order to fend off the threat of Islamic State militants deployed in the border region between Syria and Lebanon.

Fletcher voiced his remarks after talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.