Premier Najib Miqati expressed his keenness on controlling the border with Syria and preventing the smuggling of gunmen and weapons, Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali said Monday.

“Discussions with the PM focused on the situation on the border and the premier expressed his keenness on the necessity for the army and security forces to carry out their duties in controlling the border and preventing the smuggling of gunmen and arms,” Ali told reporters following talks with Miqati at the Grand Serail.

President Michel Suleiman held talks on Tuesday with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on the sidelines of his visit to the emirate to attend the Arab Connect Summit 2012.

The talks focused on bilateral relations and ways to improve them, as well as the latest regional and Arab developments.

U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly encouraged Lebanese authorities on Tuesday to provide the humanitarian needs of all Syrian refugees, including dissenters and deserters.

An embassy statement said that following talks with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel at his office in Hamra, Connelly “recognized Lebanon’s efforts to provide assistance to Syrians fleeing the violence in their country.”

Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan noted on Tuesday that the problem on government spending does not lie in the spending itself, but in the fact that parliament is being undermined.

He also reiterated his bloc’s demand that Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora present the government’s accounting records from 2006 until 2010.

A Lebanese expatriate, who works in an oil company in Yemen, has been released by his captors on Tuesday, reported the National News Agency.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour received news of his release, it added.

Syrian regime forces bombed on Tuesday a bridge used by refugees fleeing to Lebanon from the central province of Homs, cutting off a key escape route to evacuate the wounded, a monitoring group said.

"Regime forces on Tuesday bombarded a bridge near Qusayr, in Homs province, which is used by refugees and the wounded fleeing to Lebanon," Rami Abdel Rahman, of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Agence France Presse.

The army has released 28 Syrians, who were detained on Sunday for carrying arms after crossing illegally into Lebanon, An Nahar newspaper reported.

“The military detained 35 Syrian armed Syrian, who crossed into Lebanon with the refugees,” a military source told the daily. “We have questioned them and released 28 after we found out that they haven’t used their weapons in Lebanon or Syria.”

The cabinet session on Wednesday is expected to tackle thorny issues with 69 articles on its agenda, local newspapers reported.

The most prominent issue is the energy ministry’s request to approve an agreement with Iran, which allows Tehran to provide Lebanon with 200-400 megawatts of electricity to resolve the country’s lingering power crisis.

The international community is exerting pressure on the Lebanese government to protect Syrian refugees and provide them with humanitarian assistance after the U.N. refugee agency said Monday that as many as 2,000 Syrians crossed into Lebanon over the last two days.

An Nahar daily said Tuesday that the international community has also asked Lebanese authorities not to hand over refugees to the Syrian regime if it asks for their repatriation because their lives could be under threat.

Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi was on Monday tasked with preparing a draft-law on the extra-budgetary spending made by the governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri in 2006-2010, drawing the ire of the March 14 opposition which is demanding a comprehensive solution that would also include the adoption of a $5.9 billion 2011 spending bill.

After a meeting held at the parliament by Speaker Nabih Berri, PM Najib Miqati, and MPs Michel Aoun, Suleiman Franjieh, Mohammed Raad and Talal Arslan, Safadi was asked to prepare the draft-law for approval by the cabinet, which will later refer it to parliament.