Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati reiterated on Monday Lebanon's plea to the international community to continue supporting the country in harboring Syrian refugees, while demanding that it is in need of more aid that exceeds a billion dollars.

He said that Lebanon needs around 1.850 billion dollars.

The army identified on Monday the assailants of one of the attacks on the military in the southern city of Sidon, saying however that two suspects have escaped.

A communique said that three suspects were passing on foot through a checkpoint at al-Awwali bridge at Sidon's entrance at 9:00 pm Sunday when a soldier asked for their identification papers.

Speaker Nabih Berri urged on Monday the International Telecommunication Union to form a committee to investigate the newly established Israeli spying stations along its border with Lebanon.

“The newly Israeli aggression is a campaign to spy on the Lebanese, the embassies and international organizations in the country,” Berri said during a meeting with caretaker Telecom Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui and the secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union Hamadoun Touré.

One of five people living in Lebanon are refugees who have fled the conflict in neighboring Syria, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Monday.

The UNHCR says there are more than 842,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon but the actual figure could be even higher, Lebanese authorities believe.

Lebanese leaders condemned on Monday the attacks on the army in the southern city of Sidon, defending the military as the shield of security and sovereignty and calling for unity with it.

President Michel Suleiman condemned the attacks as “terrorist crimes,” saying they came “at a time the Lebanese are looking to the army in all regions as the guarantor of security, stability and civil peace.”

Caretaker Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi announced on Monday his resignation from government in light of recent corruption allegations.

He said during a press conference that he will “cease his caretaker role from cabinet and take a break from politics.”

Change and Reform bloc MP Alain Aoun denied on Monday that Hizbullah officially named Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun to run for presidential post.

He said in comments to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) that “the party has no official stance over the nomination of FPM leader for the presidency.”

A Lebanese soldier, who went missing after a shooting on an Israeli army unit on Sunday night, has returned to his post, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA and Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said that the soldier reported to duty in Naqoura on Monday morning after hiding in a bush throughout the night.

The Defense Office of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is set to include allegations by Bo Astrom to highlight the “flaws in the international investigation.”

An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday that the Astom's claims will be a rich material for the defense office, which will focus on the flaws of the investigation and to thwart off the theories adopted by Prosecutor Norman Farrell.

Turkish ambassador to Lebanon Inan Ozeldiz revealed on Monday that his country has steady contacts with Hizbullah, saying that the fate of the two kidnapped Orthodox bishops, who were seized in northern Syria in April.

“We don't agree with Hizbullah regarding the situation in Syria but it's a Lebanese party and we take it's point of view into consideration,” the ambassador said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.