The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc led by Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday stressed that “the judicial course must be respected in Sheikh (Ahmed) Abdul Wahed's case as well as the army's prestige.”

Change and Reform secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan also told reporters after the bloc’s weekly meeting that “the timing of the state budget is important as we need to know what the government intends to spend, not only what it spent in the past.”

France on Tuesday condemned Syrian shelling of areas of northern Lebanon and said it backed Lebanese plans to boost its military presence along the Syrian border.

"France condemns the Syrian shelling of Lebanese territory and the repeated violent acts in recent days at the Syrian-Lebanese border," French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told a press conference.

March 14 opposition MP Butros Harb denied on Tuesday that handing over security agencies a unique code used to identify an individual user on a GSM network known as IMSI would infringe on people’s liberties, a day after the government approved limited access to the so-called telecom data.

“It is unfortunate that there was a dispute” between the different members of the cabinet on the telecom data, Harb said during a press conference about differences during Monday’s government session on the telecom data.

Byblos bank in the town of Shouaifat was on Tuesday robbed by armed men who left two people injured in the second robbery of the same branch in six months.

The National News Agency said two masked men stormed the bank and opened fire in the air, injuring staff member Hiba Nasser in her ankle. Another employee, Kamal Jaber, was also wounded due to flying glass.

The Higher Relief Council announced on Tuesday that it will halt all the medical aid to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the National News Agency reported.

“As of Tuesday the Council will stop all medical coverage for Syrian refugees across Lebanon,” the NNA said.

President Michel Suleiman will head to Turkey in the upcoming two days to address the case of the 11 kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims in Syria.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Tuesday, Speaker Nabih Berri revealed the information to the families of the abducted men.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns is expected to discuss with Lebanese officials this week the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon, An Nahar daily reported on Tuesday.

Burns arrives in Beirut on a two-day visit on Thursday and is scheduled to meet with Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier Najib Miqati, al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora and Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji, a high-ranking source told the newspaper.

The Jal el-Dib highway was open to traffic on Tuesday as the residents of the area called off their protest after the cabinet decided to build a tunnel to replace the dismantled bridge.

The residents of Jal el-Dib were set to block the highway from 7:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday to protest the cabinet’s failure to find a solution to replace the old metal bridge.

The cabinet agreed on Monday to hand over the so-called telecom data to security agencies but only within a limited geographic location and after the approval of a three-member expert judicial committee.

The deal was reached after a heated debate between the March 8 coalition ministers of the Change and Reform bloc, Hizbullah and Amal, and the government’s centrists - President Michel Suleiman, Premier Najib Miqati and ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat.

Heavy shelling rattled the northern border region of Wadi Khaled overnight as gunmen opened fire along the Lebanese-Syrian border at several illegal crossing points, media reports said on Tuesday.

The Lebanese Red Cross announced that the shelling killed 2 Syrian nationals and a Lebanese.