Premier-designate Najib Miqati reiterated that he would form a government that satisfies the Lebanese and respects the Constitution and the Taef Accord.

“I will not shackle myself with any grace period or dates,” Miqati told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

National Struggle Front leader Walid Jumblat has reportedly urged the U.S. to put more pressure on Syria, without allowing it to exploit the international changes for its own benefits.

According to a WikiLeaks cable dated February 20, 2005, carried by OTV, a meeting was held between MP Jumblat and former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison, in the presence of MP Marwan Hamadeh.

The State Department has denied a report that the U.S. has quietly frozen weapon shipments to Lebanon's armed forces but defense officials confirmed that Washington was continuing to provide only training and nonlethal assistance to the Lebanese military.

“Our assistance programs to the Lebanese armed forces continue and that no decision regarding any kind of freeze has been made at this time,” said Acting Deputy Department Spokesman Mark Toner on Monday.

U.S. citizens should avoid traveling to Lebanon, the State Department said Monday in a travel warning two days after a U.S. embassy group was attacked by Lebanese youth.

"The Department of State continues to urge U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon due to current safety and security concerns," the warning said.

The Internal Security Forces’ Intelligence Bureau has arrested a man in the town of Sin el-Fil suspected of collaborating with Israel, al-Akhbar daily reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that the man hails from a southern border town and resides in Sin el-Fil.

Riots erupted again in Lebanon's notorious main prison of Roumieh on Monday, after negotiations between security forces and inmates managed to end a 2-day mutiny on Sunday.

At once, security forces sent reinforcements to the prison as Gendarmarie Commander Salah Jebran arrived on the scene to follow up on the situation and start negotiations with the inmates, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon marked on Monday the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

At a ceremony at UNIFIL Sector West headquarters in Shamaa, Force Commander Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas highlighted UNIFIL’s contribution to the effort of de-mining and its impact on helping ensure safer and more prosperous lives for the people of southern Lebanon.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Monday the need to adopt a new approach in tackling the prisons file in Lebanon given the weekend’s unrest in the Roumieh prison.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine that new prisons should be constructed and the old ones should be renovated, noting that such matters “have never been a priority for any of the past governments despite our repeated demands that they be given the attention they deserve.”

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel criticized on Monday the ongoing governmental vacuum in Lebanon, saying that the country is in desperate need of a national salvation government to revive the state and restore contacts among the Lebanese.

He said during a press conference: “We are getting distracted with pointless debates and we have no right to ignore the reality of the situation in the country.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi held talks on Monday with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati at his house in Verdun.

The meeting was also attended by a number of spiritual leaders, including Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, the Vice President of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council Abdel Amir Qabalan, and Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Naim Hassan.