Lebanon appealed on Sunday for $180 million from Arab countries to help it meet the Syrian refugee influx that has threatened to bring the number of the displaced to 420,000 in June, as the Arab League decided to send a team to Syria's neighboring countries to assess the status of refugees ahead of a donor conference in Kuwait on January 30.

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis agreed to send a team to Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq "to assess the situation of Syrian refugees on the ground," the Arab League said.

A severe snow and rain storm across Lebanon has caused blackouts across the country where Electricite du Liban contract workers have also been on strike for several days, residents and officials said on Thursday.

"There is a storm, and there is a problem in the grid. The electricity workers are on strike, and they're not letting anyone fix the problem," Energy Minister Jebran Bassil told Agence France Presse.

A powerful snow storm has magnified the misery for Syrians who have fled the country's civil war to Lebanon, turning two camps into a swamp in the eastern Bekaa valley.

The two encampments were immersed in water after the Litani River flooded. Dozens of Syrian refugees were left in search of alternate shelter along with their soaked and muddy belongings.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday announced that his allies support the electoral law proposed by the Orthodox Gathering, rejecting what he described as attempts to “steal the rights of Christians.”

“Our allies support the Orthodox Gathering law and we will hear their stance during the meeting of the parliamentary committees this evening,” Aoun told reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in Rabiyeh.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday called on the Free Patriotic Movement to seek its allies' approval of the electoral law proposed by the Orthodox Gathering -- under which each sect would elect its representatives -- or else endorse the electoral law proposed by March 14's Christians, which is based on 50 small electorates.

“We were among those who suggested amending the electoral law because the current law does not ensure proper representation and this is what several parties are saying,” Geagea said at a press conference he held in Maarab.

As Lebanon continues to overlook the potential to turn its cannabis cultivation problem into a profitable project that can improve the living conditions of farmers in the Bekaa region, many farms in Israel are challenging the illegality of marijuana in the state to test and promote its medical advantages.

“Situated in the Galilee hills in northern Israel is a government-approved medical marijuana farm that among its strain of growing plants there is one that is believed to have the strongest psychoactive effect of any cannabis in the world. Another, rich in anti-inflammatory properties, will not get you high at all,” the New York Times reported.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Thursday that the Bkirki meetings that were held between Christian leaders to reach an agreement over a new parliamentary electoral law found that the Orthodox Gathering law offers the best representation, followed by the law based on proportional representation.

He said: “I am ready to accept any electoral law on condition that the president's privileges be restored to what they were before the Taif Accord.”

The Lebanese Band Association for the promotion of Music organized during the past weekend a Christmas musical concert in cooperation with the Lebanese Order of Physicians (OML) and the Lebanon Lions Club at the headquarters of the OML in Furn al-Chebback.

Tens of children of the national orchestra for boys and girls, the Honor Band, performed during the concert, presenting musical pieces by Anderson, King, Smith and others.

Syrian rebels attacked a key army base in the northwest province of Idlib on Friday, the last regime bastion in the region, and regime warplanes launched air raids in Damascus province, a watchdog said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several rebel groups pounded Wadi Deif amid violent clashes on the ground while regime warplanes launched air strikes around the army base.

Syrian Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, who was wounded in a bombing and was brought to Beirut for treatment a week ago, flew home after Lebanese authorities received information that international arrest warrants could be issued against him, a top security official said.

Al-Shaar left to Damascus on a private jet, officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said Tuesday.