President Michel Suleiman has expressed fears that a top member of either the March 8 or 14 alliance would use his power in the country's top Christian post to take vengeance from his foes if he was elected president.

In an interview with As Safir newspaper published on Tuesday, Suleiman said: “I am afraid that one of them could come into office so that he takes vengeance from the others.”

Lebanon is under massive pressure as tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Syria continue to stream in, likely reaching a total of 1.5 million people by the end of the year and heightening tensions in the tiny, overburdened country, U.N. officials said Monday.

The number represents one third of Lebanon's estimated population of 4.5 million, and unlike Turkey and Jordan, Lebanon has no refugee camps for Syrians, who are scattered all over in informal settlements, living with relatives or renting homes.

Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh on Monday ruled out that al-Mustaqbal movement leader MP Saad Hariri might grant Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun the votes of his bloc in the presidential election, saying he is “not optimistic” in this regard.

“I'm not part of the team running Aoun's electoral campaign and if his contacts with Hariri produced positive results, that would be a good thing, but I'm not optimistic that Hariri might grant Aoun his votes,” Franjieh said in an interview on MTV.

An Iraqi national was released on Monday evening after a three-day kidnap ordeal in the Bekaa town of Brital, reported the state-run National News Agency.

"An army force raided locations where fugitives were staying in Brital and managed to free Majed al-Nashi,” the NNA said.

Three fugitives were arrested on Monday in Beirut's suburbs on charges of opening fire, the army announced in a communique.

"An army force detained Mohammed Sharif Hashem in Haret Hreik for opening fire in the Shiyyah area (in Beirut's southern suburbs),” the communique said.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi on Monday referred to the Judicial Council the cases of twelve deadly bombings that rocked different regions in Lebanon in the past months.

Rifi announced in a released statement that he has appointed judicial investigators at the Judicial Council to probe the “terrorist explosions.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam announced Monday that he will not discuss the presidential vote with Saudi officials during his visit to the kingdom, denying that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi had asked him to propose the extension of President Michel Suleiman's term.

“Al-Rahi did not ask me to convey a proposal on extending Suleiman's term and my visit to Saudi Arabia is not for discussing the presidential election, which is for the Lebanese to conduct,” Salam told reporters onboard the plane that carried him to the Gulf state.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday said his Paris talks with former premier Saad Hariri tackled MP Michel Aoun's presidential nomination and the fact that the Free Patriotic Movement leader has proposed himself as a “consensual” candidate.

"I demonstrated with ex-PM Saad Hariri all the aspects of the political process related to the presidential vote and we discussed all the possible solutions to the crisis and raised all the possibilities," Geagea said during a press conference in the French capital, according to a statement distributed by the LF's media department.

President Michel Suleiman on Monday asked the Constitutional Council to look into the constitutionality of the new rent law.

The state-run National News Agency reported that Suleiman requested the Council to check whether the draft law adheres to Article 19 of the Constitution.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq hoped on Monday that Emirati nationals would once again return to Lebanon “after stability in the country has been restored” due to the implementation of the government's security plan.

He said while on a trip to the UAE: “There are positive signs that the emirate may lift the advisory against its citizens traveling to Lebanon, but I have not yet received such a pledge.”