Protesters reopened on Monday a vital highway that links Beirut with the South following a pledge made by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq not to transfer waste to Iqlim al-Kharroub region without a deal with municipalities.

Earlier Monday, three demonstrators and four policemen were injured during a clash when police tried to force protesters to open the Jiyeh highway.

Trash collection resumed in the capital Beirut after an almost week-long crisis that has seen streets overflowing with waste and the air filled with the smell of rotting garbage.

The collection restarted after a temporary deal was found to begin taking trash to several landfills in undisclosed locations.

Residents of the Chouf area of Iqlim al-Kharroub southeast of Beirut blocked the vital Beirut-South highway early Sunday in protest at the environment ministry's decision to transfer the garbage that has been accumulating over the last week to their province, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The residents gathered on the coastal highway in the town of Jiyeh at the junction of Barja and blocked the road in both directions.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed Saturday that newly issued sanctions by the U.S. against the party's officials were only aimed at targeting the Lebanese in general and that Iran's support for Hizbullah would not change following a nuclear deal with it.

“Sanctions on Hizbullah members don't make a difference because they neither have money nor have made deposits in banks worldwide,” Nasrallah said at the graduation ceremony of the sons and daughters of Hizbullah martyrs.

Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq said on Saturday that the collection of garbage will resume overnight after a final decision was reached on the location of the dump sites that would replace the Naameh landfill that was closed last weekend.

His announcement was made after environmentalists held a protest in downtown Beirut calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Tammam Salam and al-Mashnouq over the waste management crisis that erupted when the landfill was shut down last Friday.

The burning of garbage near the Rafik Hariri International Airport near Beirut's southern suburbs continued on Friday amid an outcry of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Lebanon, reported al-Mustaqbal daily on Saturday.

Concerned sources told the daily that the Civil Aviation had sent a memo to the Middle East Airports Services (MEAS) to tackle the burning of waste near the western runway of the facility.

A few municipalities in Mount Lebanon began on Friday collecting garbage as a temporary solution to a growing environmental crisis in the hot summer season that erupted after the closure of the Naameh landfill south of Beirut last week.

The number of municipalities, which met the demands of Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq, were however limited.

The government failed on Thursday to reach a decision on its working mechanism and the waste crisis but agreed to continue discussions next week.

The session was held at the Grand Serail amid a “disgust” expressed by Prime Minister Tammam Salam over the failure to bridge the gap between the bickering sides in the government.

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil remarked that the garbage crisis in Lebanon “affects all people without discrimination between the sects or regions,” reported As Safir on Wednesday.

He therefore stressed that this issue should not be addressed through political and petty means.

A Lebanese man died on Thursday after setting himself on fire in Beirut's southern suburbs, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said Ahmed Mohammed Issa, 22, went to the roof of his house that lies in the area of al-Ramel al-Ali and sprayed himself with flammable material.