Speaker Nabih Berri has revealed that he formed a committee to hold consultations with Lebanon's rival parties on the upcoming presidential elections.

The members of the committee are from his Development and Liberation bloc, the speaker, who is the head of Amal movement, said.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed on Monday that the battle against terrorism and terrorists is open, expressing relief over the measures implemented along the Syrian-Lebanese border.

“Terrorism threatens all the Lebanese without any exception,” Qahwaji pointed out in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Interior Minister Nuhad al-Mashnouq said a government in which there is a minimum level of political understanding would be capable of confronting terrorism.

In remarks to local newspaper published on Monday, al-Mashnouq said: “The understanding is one of the essential tools in confronting terror by forcing political parties (to abide by) a unified plan.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Sunday lashed out at Arab Democratic Party leader Rifaat Eid and Tripoli's politicians over the recurrent clashes in the northern city, noting that Hizbullah did not achieve a victory in Syria with Yabrud's capture.

“Everyone is in a dilemma in Tripoli ... I advise Rifaat Eid not to be reckless,” Jumblat said during an interview on al-Jadeed television.

Fugitive Islamist cleric Ahmed al-Asir appeared Sunday in a video that was published on his official Twitter page, his first audiovisual recording since the Abra battle.

“Lebanon is under the full hegemony of the Iranian scheme through Halesh (Hizbullah) and the AMAL Movement,” Asir says in the video.

Two rockets landed on Sunday in the outskirts of the Bekaa town of Sarein, leaving one person wounded.

“A Syrian worker was wounded when a Grad rocket fired from Syria hit a grove in the northern Bekaa town of Sarein,” Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) reported.

An employee and a secretary of an agency for the recruitment of migrant domestic workers were arrested after an Ethiopian maid filed a report alleging that she was raped, the Internal Security Forces announced on Sunday.

“On March 17, 2014, the Tripoli judicial police department received a report filed by the Ethiopian domestic worker B. E., 33, regarding a rape offense,” the ISF's public relations department said in a statement.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil announced on Sunday that a meeting of Arab foreign ministers held in Kuwait approved a plan he had presented aimed at bolstering the Lebanese army.

He said via Twitter: “The foreign ministers agreed to support the army in its resistance of Israel and battle against terrorism.”

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Sunday the need to devise a national defense strategy for Lebanon, while emphasizing that he seeks to hold the presidential elections on time.

He said: “The defense strategy should adhere to the army and the state.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam condemned on Sunday the clashes that broke out at at dawn near Beirut's Sports City, saying that they are part of the “ongoing developments that violate the state's authority,” reported Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

He blamed in a statement the unrest on the spread of weapons among the people.