Leader of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblat on Monday dismissed the U.S.-led coalition to counter “terrorism” in Syria and Iraq as a “lie.”

"The Arab situation began to deteriorate since the 2003 calculated conspiracy to invade Iraq,” Jumblat said in his weekly editorial in the PSP's al-Anbaa electronic newspaper.

The Defense Minister was granted a 10-day ultimatum to determine the demands of the military corps regarding the new pay hike.

“As long as all the rights of the military corps were granted, then we will not demand separating the army's new wage scale from the original draft law,” Moqabel told reporters gathered at the parliament after a meeting for the joint parliamentary committees.

The Army Intelligence referred on Monday two Syrians to the concerned judiciary for their belonging to terrorist groups.

The army announced that Ahmed Atef Jinyat, a member of the Monzer al-Hasan group, was referred to the concerned judiciary for providing the organization with explosives that were going to be used in terrorist attacks.

The international community remains strongly committed to supporting the Lebanese army, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly said Monday.

Plumbly told reporters following a visit to Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail that he “paid tribute to Lebanon’s security forces, particularly the army, for all the efforts and sacrifices they have made to safeguard the country in the face of grave challenges.”

The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch denied on Monday that two of its members were wounded when chasing a wanted man in the northern town of Shekka.

“News about the injury of the Intelligence Branch members are not true,” said the ISF on twitter.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun expressed belief on Monday that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front's intervention in Lebanon will never be easy as the people is all determined to combat extremism.

“The Lebanese youth is concerned with the fate of the country and should abide by the appropriate choices to preserve the country,” Aoun said via the FPM Youth Facebook page to commemorate the 24th anniversary of his ouster from the Baabda Palace.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri reiterated on Monday that he was trying hard to push for the election of a new president in Lebanon.

In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro, Hariri said: “Lebanon's coexistence … is menaced by the paralysis of institutions amid a presidential vacuum.”

Contacts intensified recently to persuade Muslim and Christian prominent figures in the northern port city of Tripoli to attend a conference set to highlight civil peace in the area.

The Mufti of Tripoli and the North, Sheikh Malek al-Shaar, revealed in comments published in As Safir newspaper on Monday that the conference that will be held under the slogan “The National Tripoli Gathering” will issue a “civil peace charter.”

The increasing defection of troops from the Lebanese army is not expected to affect the military, which includes around 60,000 soldiers, despite fears that the institution is being targeted with a campaign to create chaos in its ranks.

Military sources told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that “the Lebanese army similar to any other army witnesses some defections but the focus on the recent cases was compelled by the fact that the fugitive soldiers defected and joined the ranks of terrorist organizations.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has stressed that the jihadists, who have taken Lebanese soldiers and police hostage, have not made clear demands and revealed that a Qatari negotiator's mission has been so far fruitless.

“There is nothing new except for the Qatari envoy who has held several rounds of negotiations that have not yet yielded results,” local newspapers quoted Salam as telling his visitors.