Bassam al-Dada, an adviser to the commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army, has denied reports that the kidnapper of Lebanese pilgrims in Syria was killed.

Al-Liwaa daily on Monday quoted al-Dada as saying that Amar al-Dadikhi of the rebel North Storm brigade, also known as Abu Ibrahim, who last May kidnapped 11 Lebanese pilgrims on their way home from Iran, was being held in Turkey.

Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn called on Monday on the Lebanese to be aware of the “delicate” stage the country is passing through and to let the army carry out its tasks for being “our only shelter.”

“The Lebanese should act responsibly with the (latest) developments, and shouldn't allow anyone to destabilize their faith in the nation and their army,” Ghosn said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Bulgaria will brief other EU nations on the results of the probe that linked Hizbullah to last year's bus bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver, Bulgaria's foreign minister said Sunday.

The findings, announced on Tuesday, brought renewed pressure on the European Union from the U.S., Israel and Canada to designate the group a terrorist organization and to crack down on its fundraising operations across Europe.

Iran and Hizbullah, are trying to build a network of militias inside Syria to protect their interests there in case President Bashar Assad falls, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.

Citing unnamed U.S. and Middle Eastern officials, the newspaper said Iran's goal appears to be to have reliable operatives in Syria in case the country fractures into ethnic and sectarian enclaves.

A wealthy businessman kidnapped on Tuesday in the Tyre region was released on Sunday evening, a media report said.

“Abductee Najib Youssef has been released and handed over to the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau in Beirut,” al-Jadeed television reported.

Hizbullah noted Sunday that “those providing political cover for opposition fighters in Syria are the same ones who are providing political cover for those who killed army troops in Arsal,” adding that “providing cover for Syrian gunmen in Lebanese territory is a continuous crime against the country and Syria.”

In a speech he delivered at a memorial service in the southern town of Qabrikha, deputy head of Hizbullah's Executive Council Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said “Israel does not dare to wage any aggression against Lebanon because it cannot afford to bear the equations and surprises of the resistance."

A Mustaqbal movement delegation that visited the eastern border town of Arsal on Sunday called for a fair and transparent investigation into the ambush of an army patrol that left two soldiers dead.

MP Atef Majdalani, who spoke in the name of the delegation, said “everyone wants the truth and a transparent probe to achieve justice.”

The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon receiving aid from the United Nations, the Lebanese government and non-governmental organizations has now exceeded 265,000, said the latest report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

More than 174,000 Syrian refugees are registered in Lebanon, 99,000 others are being processed, the UNHCR said.

Batroun MP Butros Harb expressed fears on Sunday that the Assad regime would use the pastoral visit of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to Damascus to meet political objectives.

“It's a pastoral visit made by the patriarch with the aim of consolidating Maronite-Orthodox cooperation,” Harb said.

Two teenagers were killed and three others were wounded in a traffic accident at the entrance of the southern city of Sidon, the National News Agency reported on Sunday.

NNA sad Rayan al-Hadri, 18, and 19-year-old Mahmoud Baasiri died when their vehicle a Honda Civic hit a huge palm tree at Sidon's northern entrance.