At least one Palestinian was killed and several people, including three Lebanese soldiers, were wounded on Monday in clashes that erupted between the Lebanese army and residents of the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared during the funeral of Ahmed Qassem, who was killed during unrest at the camp on Friday.

An official speaking on condition of anonymity told Agence France Presse that "one Palestinian refugee was killed and seven others were wounded" by gunfire.

The families of the kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims have agreed to reopen the airport road on Monday after they blocked it for around three hours in protest against the failure to release their loved ones.

The families blamed the government for the failure, initially threatening to keep the road blocked indefinitely.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated that Syrian President Bashar Assad is only keen on preserving his regime “even at the expense of Syria’s unity and stability.”

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “The military campaign against Homs will pave the way for demographic and sectarian segregation aimed at dividing Syria, which is at the core of Assad’s plan.”

Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Richard M. Mills, Jr., held talks on Monday with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on the political and security situation in Lebanon and Syria, said the embassy in a statement.

He expressed his country’s “dedication to strengthening the Internal Security Forces as a modern professional police force that serves and protects all of Lebanon’s citizens.”

Electricite du Liban contract employees gathered on Monday outside the office of the company’s general manager.

The general manager was holding a meeting at the time on his 13th-floor office.

Several non-governmental organizations signed on Monday a petition in support of Sudanese refugees’ rights in Lebanon.

“The situation of the Sudanese refugees in the country is deplorable,” a statement issued by the non-governmental agencies said.

The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon rose to 28,000 but only 20,000 of them are receiving humanitarian assistance throughout the country, the most recent update from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Monday.

Field trips and contacts with the Internal Security Forces revealed that new families have recently arrived to several towns in the northeastern Bekaa, including Hermel, al-Qaa and Mazraat Ain el-Jawzeh, it said.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel considered on Monday that the national dialogue between Lebanese foes eased the tense situation in the country.

“I expect that the results of the second round of the all-party talks will have a better impact locally,” Charbel told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

The Doctors Syndicate held a strike on Monday in protest against the pre-trial detention of Doctor Moussa Abou Hamad, who was allegedly responsible for the death of a pregnant woman.

“The doctors are not criminals and no one should be treated on this basis,” Mustaqbal bloc MP Dr. Atef Majdalani said during a sit-in held at the headquarters of the syndicate.

Any attempt by Hizbullah to keep the issue of its arms away from the proliferation of weapons in Lebanese cities and towns would lead to the obstruction of the national dialogue, centrist ministerial sources warned.

“It would be impossible to hold more dialogue (sessions) if the Hizbullah leadership insisted to take the (issue of) the resistance arms away from the equation of the weapons spread inside cities and outside,” the sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published on Monday.