Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on Monday said he was confident that missing Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions were still alive, upon his return from a several-day visit to Libya, where the three were last seen.

“The Libyan leaders expressed their readiness to closely follow up on the case,” Mansour said in an interview with NBN television.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has warned that revolt-hit Syria might “descend into civil war if the bloodshed continues,” stressing that the Arab peoples “can no longer tolerate autocratic parties and rulers.”

In his weekly column in his party’s Al-Anbaa newspaper to be published Tuesday, Jumblat said: “The Arab peoples can no longer tolerate autocratic parties and rulers, and the freedom fighters and revolutionaries in all countries do not buy anymore the obsolete rhetoric that was used for years to control the masses.”

An Internal Security Forces member was injured in a gunfight with robbers of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in the southern city of Sidon at dawn Monday, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said that gunmen had stolen around 10 million liras from KFC and were fleeing at around 3:30 am when they were taken by surprise by an ISF patrol.

Thai authorities charged on Monday a Lebanese Hizbullah suspect with illegally possessing explosive materials. He faces up to five years in prison.

Atris Hussein was detained by police Thursday at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, trying to leave the country. Police are still looking for another Lebanese suspect.

The cabinet session scheduled to be held at the Baabda Palace will not tackle the wage boost dispute as parties involved in the matter failed to reach consensus, according to newspapers published on Monday.

Speaker Nabih Berri voiced his support to the deal between the Economic Committees and the General Labor Confederation that was sponsored by Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Baabda Palace in December.

A ceremony will be held at the Grand Serail on Tuesday to launch the 300-million-dollar Litani river project to irrigate agricultural land in southern Lebanon, As Safir daily reported.

The newspaper said that Premier Najib Miqati, Speaker Nabih Berri and MPs from the Development and Liberation bloc will attend the event. Representatives of Arab funds, particularly the Kuwaiti Fund, will also be present.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Monday the importance of maintaining stability in Lebanon to avert any repercussions the Syrian crisis may have on the country.

Jumblat told As Safir newspaper that his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday tackled the Lebanese local situation.

The discussion of diplomatic appointments by the cabinet on Monday hinges on a last-minute deal among top officials on taking the measure in a single step or on several stages, informed sources said.

The sources told As Safir daily that linking the appointments of civil servants from all ranks would hinder the process.

The death toll from the collapse of a six-storey building Sunday in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood of Fassouh rose to 26 on Monday, officials said, with more people still trapped under the rubble.

Meanwhile, the cabinet announced it would grant compensation of 30 million Lebanese pounds (20,000 dollars) to the family of each victim as well as accommodation aid to families who had been living in the collapsed building.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stated on Sunday that Lebanon will not be an open ground for foreign forces to wage their wars at the country’s expense.

He said during his Sunday sermon at Bkirki: “Lebanon must not be a channel or a source of instability in the region.”