Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said Wednesday that the armed forces will take all the necessary measures with the Syrian refugees, as the ministers of Justice, Interior, Labor, Social and Foreign affairs, convened to discuss the refugee file.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati chaired the meeting in the presence of the army chief, the Internal Security Forces chief, the Acting General Security chief, and the Presidency Secretary-General.

Lebanese authorities and a European judicial team on Tuesday agreed to exchange information about their separate corruption probes of Lebanon's Central Bank governor, officials said.

The announcement came during a visit by a European delegation from France, Germany, and Luxembourg — its third visit to Lebanon to interrogate suspects and witnesses in an ongoing investigation of Governor Riad Salameh and associates over several financial crimes.

The next ten days might witness a presidential “surprise” amid behind-the-scenes political contacts, political sources told the al-Anbaa news portal of the Progressive Socialist Party.

Informed sources meanwhile told ad-Diyar newspaper that the past seven days witnessed the emergence of a new presidential initiative.

Clutching overstuffed suitcases, bleary-eyed civilians including Lebanese described a harrowing escape from violence-wracked Sudan across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, sobbing at memories of air strikes and urban combat.

Elderly women in wheelchairs and babies asleep in their parents' arms were among nearly 200 people from 14 countries who disembarked from a naval frigate in the coastal city of Jeddah on Monday night after daring –- and draining –- journeys to safety.

Saudis are still taking their time before giving a final decision regarding the election of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh, ad-Diyar newspaper said.

The daily added Tuesday that the Americans, for their part, do not prefer the election of Franjieh, and are not supportive of the French deal involving the election of Franjieh as president and the appointment of Nawaf Salam as premier.

According to media reports, Marada Movement chief and presidential candidate Suleiman Franjieh submitted “written guarantees” to French presidential advisor Patrick Durel during their latest meeting in Paris.

Below is the list of “guarantees” as published by Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Tuesday:

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh is at the top of the presidential candidates list of French President Emmanuel Macron, a political source said.

As for Franjieh’s recent meeting with French presidential advisor Patrick Durel, the Marada leader told the latter that he prefers to leave the naming of the premier to the binding parliamentary consultations that the president would conduct upon his election, the source told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

Amnesty International has called on Lebanon to "immediately stop forcibly deporting refugees back to Syria" after dozens were returned to the war-torn country amid growing anti-Syrian sentiment.

On Friday security officials and a humanitarian source said Lebanese authorities sent dozens of Syrians back to the country, despite warnings they faced grave danger there.

Central bank chief Riad Salameh's brother, Raja, failed Tuesday to appear before a European judicial delegation as his lawyer submitted a medical report.

Last month, his brother appeared for two consecutive days and for the first time, before European investigators including French Judge Aude Buresi, through Judge Abu Samra, acting as a go-between. The judges were probing his personal wealth and allegedly suspicious financial transfers abroad.

Israel's army early Monday shelled a position belonging to a pro-Iran group in southern Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a war monitor said, the second such bombardment in days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "Israeli ground forces" bombarded a location on the outskirts of Quneitra where fighters from the Syrian Resistance to Liberate the Golan are located, without reporting any casualties.