The European Union expressed on Monday its readiness to continue providing assistance to Lebanon in coping with the burden of harboring refugees fleeing the unrest in neighboring Syria.

It said in a statement after a council meeting on Lebanon: “The EU commends the Lebanese authorities for their efforts to support those fleeing the violence in Syria, and encourages the government of Lebanon to continue meeting its responsibilities in this respect.”

A Lebanese man was on Monday ordered detained in Cyprus police custody for a further week over allegations he was helping to plan an attack on Israeli tourists, state radio reported.

The 24-year-old, who holds a Swedish passport, appeared at a closed-door hearing under tight security at a court in the island's second city Limassol, which agreed to a prosecution request he should remain in detention for a further seven days, the radio said.

Electricite du Liban contract workers vowed on Monday to continue their open-ended strike, stressing that they will not leave the company’s premises in Mar Mikhael until all their demands are met.

“We will not squander our rights,” committee of EDL contract workers said in a statement.

The uprising in the neighboring Syria, which kicked off in March 2011, began to significantly have an impact on the Lebanese agricultural sector.

A police vehicle was damaged and an officer was slightly injured on Monday when security forces came under gun and mortar fire while destroying cannabis crops in a town near the city of Baalbek in the eastern Bekaa valley, the National News Agency reported.

An Internal Security Forces Nissan was hit with bullets and the officer, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, was bruised after a bullet struck him in the back.

Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi stressed on Monday that a telecom data mechanism approved by top officials over the weekend allows the security agencies to benefit from information that can help them in tracking crimes.

“The telecom data would remain controlled by the law and the judicial committee that is tasked to follow up this issue,” Qortbawi told As Safir newspaper.

The March 8 alliance is still exerting efforts to resolve the quarrel between the Free Patriotic Movement, AMAL and Hizbullah over the full-time employment of Electricite du Liban’s contract workers.

As Safir newspaper reported on Monday that Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is the son-in-law of FPM leader MP Michel Aoun, held a meeting with a prominent Hizbullah official to bridge the differences between the two parties.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is to head to Brussels on Monday to press his European Union counterparts to blacklist Hizbullah as a terror group after a deadly bombing in Bulgaria.

Israel blames the Lebanese group and its Iranian ally for the attack near the Black Sea resort of Burgas which killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver on Wednesday.

A YouTube video uploaded on Sunday showed Hussam Hussam -- who has claimed to be a witness in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri – in the custody of a group of Syrian rebels.

The group said it was part of the “brigades” that “stormed” the Syrian capital Damascus.

A Syrian rebel commander on Sunday said that 11 Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria on May 22 were in “good health” but stressed that they will only be released “after the ouster” of Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to media reports.

Al-Jazeera television aired Tuesday a video it said it received from the abductors of 11 pilgrims.