Lebanon and the U.N. have launched a plan that calls for an estimated $2.1 billion to help the country cope with the fallout from the conflict in neighboring Syria.

The Crisis Response Plan for Lebanon announced Monday outlines the priorities of the government and international community over the next two years.

Former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil al-Sayyed claimed Monday that the Lebanese government had recently rejected an offer from Damascus on granting jihadists based in Arsal's outskirts a "safe corridor" to leave for areas inside Syria in return for freeing the Lebanese servicemen who are in their custody.

Syrian President Bashar Assad "was willing to give the militants a safe corridor to areas inside Syria,” Sayyed said in an interview on al-Jadeed TV.

The army arrested Monday an Internal Security Forces sergeant as he was smuggling the sister of a member of al-Nusra Front from a Lebanese region to another.

The Kataeb Party on Monday stressed the importance of dialogue as a way to end the protracting presidential crisis, calling for “Lebanonizing” the stalled vote.

The army announced on Monday the arrest of two suspects linked to unrest in the northern region of Bhannine and city of Tripoli in October.

It said that Lebanese Ibrahim Mohammed al-Saghir was detained in the North for belonging to a terrorist group.

Gabriele Caccia, the papal ambassador to Lebanon, announced Monday that the election of a new Lebanese president might be imminent, noting that the circumstances are ripe for ending the protracted presidential void.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea kicked off on Monday a visit to Saudi Arabia by meeting with deputy Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz.

The two officials discussed in Riyadh the political developments in the region, including the need for the election of a new president in Lebanon.

The Ministries of Health, Economy and Agriculture held a joint press conference on Monday in which they declared fixing the prices of 1L of milk at LL1,100 after dropping for a week to LL500.

“We agreed to fix the prices of the 1 liter of milk at LL1,100,” Health Minister Wael Abou Faour told reporters, reiterating warnings for the owners of dairy factories that the state will not yield to their extortion.

The families of captive servicemen burned tires on Monday near the Grand Serail in Beirut's Riad Solh Square after receiving threats from Islamist gunmen.

The relatives of the soldiers and policemen, who were taken hostage by al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group, said that they received a phone call from the abductors threatening to execute one of the soldiers.

The Lebanese army has arrested two Syrians for trying to infiltrate the southern town of Shabaa through Mount Hermon, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.

NNA said members of a military checkpoint - erected at the eastern end of Shabaa - apprehended Ibrahim Mazrdakash and Omar Othman as they were trying to reach the town via Mount Hermon's heights.