Military Tribunal Judge Imad al-Zein interrogated on Monday a Lebanese man on charges of collaborating with Israel, reported the National News Agency.

He is accused of collaborating with Israel, meeting with Israeli officials in a number of foreign countries and providing them with information on the Lebanese and Syrian armies, as well as the members of Hizbullah.

A massive escape attempt from Roumieh prison has been thwarted after guards found ropes linking the observation tower to the facility's outer wall, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

NNA said that the inmates had lowered four 17-meter ropes from the tower to the outer wall of the building where convicts are incarcerated.

The international campaign for the liberation of Lebanese leftist militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah announced on Monday that it will continue its actions against French interests in Lebanon until his release, reported Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

“We will continue our actions until real measures to release Abdallah are taken,” members of the campaign said after holding talks with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi announced on Monday their support for civil marriage in Lebanon but said the issue requires a regulatory law a day after President Michel Suleiman called for legalizing it.

Charbel told An Nahar newspaper that he backed the adoption of civil marriage in Lebanon but said “this requires a detailed law that regulates the relationship between the couple before, during and after marriage.”

Rival lawmakers revealed on Monday that the gap on an electoral draft-law has remained wide despite four days of consultations with their leaderships aimed at facilitating their task of reaching common ground.

The chairman of a parliamentary subcommittee tasked with agreeing on a draft-law, MP Robert Ghanem, said following a morning session that the MPs came back with answers on a proposal to combine a winner-takes-all system with proportionality.

Speaker Nabih Berri described this week “crucial” as rival MPs from the March 8 majority alliance and the March 14 opposition coalition resumed their discussions on an electoral draft-law.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Monday, Berri said: “This week will be crucial in terms of the work of the parliamentary electoral subcommittee.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati held separate talks on Sunday in Riyadh with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, on the eve of the third Arab Economic and Social Development Summit.

The prime minister “has started a series of meetings in Riyadh ... on the eve of heading the Lebanese delegation to the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit,” Miqati's office announced.

President Michel Suleiman on Sunday expressed support for a law allowing civil marriages, currently illegal in Lebanon, saying it will help build unity in the multi-faith country.

"We should work on drafting a civil marriage law. It is a very important step in eradicating sectarianism and solidifying national unity," Suleiman wrote in Arabic and English on his Facebook page.

Protesters demanding the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah from jail in France staged a demonstration in front of the French Embassy on Sunday.

The protesters angrily pelted tomatoes and eggs at the embassy, reported LBCI television.

One person was killed and five others were injured on Sunday in an explosion at a banana fermentation plant in the southern city of Sidon, state-run National News Agency reported.

Future TV said that three Lebanese citizens, a Syrian and an Egyptian national were wounded in the blast in Sidon's Hasba area.