Riots broke out in Zahleh prison on Tuesday when some inmates refused to be transferred to another jail, reported the National News Agency.

Security forces immediately intervened to restore order at the prison.

Lebanese authorities detained on Tuesday two Lebanese nationals on charges of smuggling weapons into Syria through the eastern border town of Arsal.

Military Examining Magistrate Imad al-Zain questioned Wael F. and Bahaa F., according to the National News Agency.

Israel will reportedly take the necessary measures to halt any attempt by the Syrian regime to transfer large amounts of highly developed weapons to “terrorist organizations” including Hizbullah as violence is mounting in the country.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday that the escalating threat against President Bashar Assad’s regime is raising the Israeli officials’ concerns over the possibility of “terrorist groups” obtaining weapons from Syria.

Sources close to Prime Minister Najib Miqati have denied that the PM’s visit to Paris this week is a “prize” for his decision to fund the controversial Special Tribunal for Lebanon that will try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s suspected assassins.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published Tuesday, the sources said Miqati rejects for his visit to be described as a “prize” over his decision in November to pay Lebanon’s share to the STL through the Higher Relief Council.

Muslim and Christian clergymen, who met at the Beirut Maronite Archbishopric on Tuesday, urged officials in Lebanon to unite and adopt a nationalistic rhetoric.

The leaders of Lebanon’s sects said in a statement following their summit that their meeting should be considered as an example for interfaith meetings in the region.

A cabinet crisis that brought sessions to a standstill and showed no signs of mediation efforts last week, seemed to see a glimpse of hope on Tuesday after Speaker Nabih Berri held talks with Premier Najib Miqati following his rift with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.

“I confirmed to Berri that my latest actions were according to my national convictions, I have nothing to hide,” Miqati told An Nahar newspaper on Tuesday.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who attended a ministerial committee meeting headed by PM Najib Miqati on the electricity crisis on Monday, expressed pessimism, saying the leasing of power-generating vessels does not mean that Lebanon will not suffer from power cuts in the summer.

“If we bring in the vessels, this doesn’t necessarily mean that summer will be lighted,” al-Liwaa daily quoted Bassil as saying after attending the second meeting of the committee since the cabinet approved to lease the ships last week.

The Phalange Party on Monday slammed Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government over the issue of administrative appointments, accusing it of “nepotism.”

“It has become clear and evident that the dominant approach is the approach of nepotism, at the expense of the national interest,” the party’s political bureau said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

UNIFIL’s newly appointed Force Commander Major-General Paolo Serra on Monday lauded the cooperation between the Lebanese army and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, saying it has “brought substantial improvement in the security environment in the South.”

“I am intent on taking this strategic partnership forward.” Serra said following talks with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday described the rare double veto used by Russia and China to block a resolution condemning Syria as a “slap in the face of the Syrian people,” urging the Lebanese state to “aid the Syrian refugees” instead of staging “airborne military parades in the northern border areas.”

In his weekly column in al-Anbaa newspaper, his party’s mouthpiece, Jumblat said the vetos “destroyed what’s left of the Arab League’s initiative which tried to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria.”