Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on Friday denied that the Syrian army had on Wednesday shelled Lebanese border areas, noting that it might have been “pursuing armed men.”

“There are no Syrian violations against Lebanese sovereignty, but rather military operations, and I don’t believe that the Syrian army is shelling Lebanese areas and the (Lebanese) army has not recorded any such incident,” Mansour told MTV.

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on Friday noted that Lebanon’s banking sector is being targeted by “suspicious campaigns,” stressing that David Cohen, U.S. Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, had not addressed any “ultimatums or warnings” to the sector during his recent visit to Lebanon.

“Some are displeased over the success of Lebanese banks in the region, but the sector is robust and enjoys confidence despite being subjected to suspicious campaigns,” Salameh said in an interview on Al-Manar television.

The front of a vacant building collapsed in the Beirut neighborhood of Bourj Hammoud on Friday, reported LBC television.

No casualties were reported and damage has been limited to nearby power poles and parked cars, reported OTV.

The United Nations Friday launched an appeal for 84 million dollars (63 million euros) to help Syrian refugees who have fled abroad because of the current fighting.

Turkey has taken in some 17,000 refugees, Lebanon 16,000, Jordan about 8,500, with Iraq welcoming an unknown number, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

The Lebanese army announced in a statement on Friday that it raided a two warehouses in the Beirut neighborhood of Tariq al-Jedideh where it uncovered some five tons of spoiled food.

It also uncovered Israeli-made products whose source of manufacture was covered up.

Lebanese authorities should address high levels of abuse and deaths among migrant domestic workers, a group of eight concerned civil society groups said Friday.

The non-governmental organizations said the Lebanese government should also act quickly to reform restrictive visa regulations and adopt a labor law on domestic work.

A Molotov cocktail exploded on Friday in the parking lot of ABC mall in Dbayeh, north of Beirut, creating a small crater but causing no major damage, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said the petrol bomb exploded at 9:45 am.

A Lebanese businessman who was kidnapped in southern Nigeria's oil-producing Edo State has been released, the director-general of the foreign ministry Haitham Jumaa announced on Friday.

Jumaa said Lebanon’s Charge d’Affaires Shawqi Abu Nassar informed him that Elias Sarkis was set free by his unidentified kidnappers.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has appeased fears on the growing clashes and gunfire in Syrian towns bordering Lebanon but warned against any attempt by Syrian refugees to engage in political activity against their country’s rule.

In remarks to pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat daily on Friday, Charbel said: “There are no political intentions behind what’s going on the border between Lebanon and Syria from time to time.”

Lebanese authorities are weighing up what action to take after a group of newly recruited policewomen showed up for training wearing the hijab, a security official said on Friday.

The policewomen, numbering nearly 40 and all reportedly Shiites, were among hundreds who sat for an exam to join the Internal Security Forces earlier this year.