After taking in more than a million Syrian refugees, Lebanon has quietly changed course in recent months, forcing refugees to return to Syria — where they are at risk of persecution or death — or stay illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, human rights groups say.

The situation is drawing attention at a time when Turkey and Jordan have also tightened their admission policies. A Human Rights Watch report published Tuesday warned that Lebanon's new regulations have "set the stage for a potentially explosive situation."

Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb declared on Wednesday that the export of Lebanon's trash is not the only solution to the country's months-long problem, but said that it is the most feasible one at the moment.

He said after a meeting of parliament's environment committee: “Politicians should concern themselves with politics and keep their disputes away from this file.”

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea denied that the LF was maneuvering on its possible backing for Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun for the presidency.

“We are not maneuvering on our choice to back Aoun as a candidate,” al-Joumhouria daily on Wednesday quoted Geagea as saying. “We have many reasons for taking such a decision.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam urged Lebanon’s bickering leaders to resolve their problems outside the cabinet after the Free Patriotic Movement insisted to resolve the crisis on the appointments of top security and military officials as a condition for attending a government session.

Salam has told officials who have lately contacted him that he does not reject the FPM's demands on the appointments. But he stressed that ministers “should head to the cabinet and resolve their political and sectarian problems outside the council of ministers.”

France and Britain have hinted that they would stop their carriers from landing in Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport for failing to abide by international standards.

The issue has been lately discussed by Speaker Nabih Berri and the French Ambassador. A similar meeting was also held between Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and the British Ambassador, said As Safir daily on Wednesday.

Donors have pledged $250 million to educate over one million Syrian children this year but an additional $500 million is urgently needed to fund the program in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, the U.N. envoy for global education said Tuesday.

Gordon Brown warned that "death voyages to Europe" will soar in 2016 as long as Syria's two million refugee children and millions more displaced inside the country are exploited and don't have the opportunity for education.

A prayer hall came under gunfire Tuesday in the coastal Saadiyat area south of Beirut during the presence of a local Hizbullah official in it, state-run National News Agency reported.

“Unknown gunmen opened fire from a car at a prayer hall in the Saadiyat area as the region's Hizbullah official was praying inside,” NNA said.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq held talks Tuesday with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and noted that the election of a president needs a “regional-international decision that is not available now.”

“The visit is part of the necessary consultations with the doctor (Geagea) but we must all admit that the country is going through several and not one political storm,” said Mashnouq after a two-hour meeting in Maarab.

A Syrian Islamic State militant has been arrested in Lebanon at the hands of the General Directorate of State Security, state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

“State Security's Mount Lebanon department has arrested the Syrian O. H. on charges of belonging to the IS group,” NNA said.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc noted Tuesday that Hizbullah, the Free Patriotic Movement and Tehran are to blame for the presidential vacuum crisis that has been running since May 2014.

“The bloc reiterates its insistence on the election of a president as soon as possible in order to end the presidential void in the country and pave the way for restoring the role and work of state institutions,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.