Army Intelligence arrested on Tuesday a people-smuggling network in Lebanon, reported LBCI television.

It said that the 13-member network was arrested in southern Lebanon.

Assaad Assaad sold everything to escape poverty in Lebanon, but now he is back, after watching his wife and three children, and his dreams of a better life, perish at sea.

The 36-year-old, who could now pass for 50, was among 18 shell-shocked Lebanese who returned on Sunday after surviving a shipwreck off Indonesia that killed dozens of impoverished migrants from the Middle East.

Eighteen Lebanese survivors of the Indonesia ferry sinking returned to Lebanon on Sunday.

The survivors arrived at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport where they were received by a number of officials, including a number of politicians from the northern region of Akkar where the majority of the victims hail from.

President Michel Suleiman expressed relief on Saturday over the expected return of the Lebanese who survived the Australia-bound boat tragedy.

He voiced hope that the Indonesian authorities would continue its measures to swiftly return the bodies of the victims to their relatives, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Australia's native koala could face a wipeout from increasing temperatures unless "urgent" action is taken to plant trees for shelter as well as eucalypts to eat, a study found Thursday.

Lead researcher Mathew Crowther from the University of Sydney said the three-year study tracked 40 koalas by satellite in north-western New South Wales to examine their nesting and feeding habits.

The March 14 General Secretariat stressed in a statement on Wednesday that forming a cabinet is a national and constitutional responsibility, and called on President Michel Suleiman and PM designate Tammam Salam to line up one that is free from the restraints of Hizbullah and based on the Baabda declaration.

After their weekly meeting, the secretariat stressed that Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian crisis have “burdened the Lebanese and linked their destiny to the turmoil in Syria following the party's inclusion on the list of terrorism in Europe, the Gulf, and the U.S.”

An official Lebanese delegation will head on Wednesday to Indonesia to follow up the case of last week's asylum-seekers ferry sinking and to ensure the safe return of the survivors.

The members of the delegation were supposed to depart from Beirut's Rafik Hariri International airport at 11:50 a.m. however, the flight was postponed to 7:45 p.m. until their visas are ready.

Residents of the northern region of Akkar briefly blocked on Tuesday several roads to protest officials' inaction over revealing the fate of the Lebanese who drowned in the sinking of an Australia-bound boat off Indonesia.

The residents demanded officials to assume their responsibilities and reveal the fate of their relatives.

The death toll from the sinking of an Australia-bound asylum-seeker boat off Indonesia rose to 39 Monday, an official said, although it was not yet clear the number of Lebanese who died in the incident.

The boat, which was estimated to be carrying between 80 and 120 Middle Eastern asylum seekers, went down on Friday in rough seas off Indonesia's main island of Java. It was headed for Australia's Christmas Island.

Lebanese asylum-seekers who died when a boat sank off Indonesia were the victims of people smugglers who prey on them and Syrian refugees seeking to better their lives.

The death toll from the sinking on Friday of the Australia-bound boat off the coast of Java has risen to 28, with many more still feared missing, according to Indonesian police.