The Phalange Party on Monday described the security plan that got underway in Beirut's southern suburbs as "an encouraging first step" to put an end to “all forms of autonomous security.”

“The Phalange Party sees in the security plan devised for Dahieh an encouraging first step to put an end to all forms of autonomous security across Lebanon, regardless of any concerns” that some parties might have over the move, the party said in a statement issued after the weekly meeting of its political bureau.

An Egyptian court on Monday banned the Muslim Brotherhood from operating and ordered its assets seized, in the latest blow to the Islamist movement of deposed president Mohammed Morsi.

The court also banned "any institution branching out from or belonging to the Brotherhood," the official MENA news agency reported, possibly restricting the movement's political arm the Freedom and Justice Party.

U.S. prosecutors have dropped human trafficking charges against a Saudi princess accused of holding a Kenyan housekeeper against her will, officials said Friday.

Meshael Alayban, one of six wives of Saudi Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud, had been due to enter a plea in court to the felony charges, filed against her in July.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated on Tuesday that Hizbullah's expansion of its telecommunications network can be attributed to the failure to address this issue back in 2008 when this case first arose.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: “Whoever allowed Hizbullah to expand its telecommunications network in the Bekaa town of Zahle must resolve this issue to prevent unrest similar to that of May 7, 2008.”

Careful not to blame either side for a deadly chemical weapon attack, U.N. inspectors reported Monday that rockets loaded with the nerve agent sarin had been fired from an area where Syria's military has bases, but said the evidence could have been manipulated in the rebel-controlled stricken neighborhoods.

The U.S., Britain and France jumped on evidence in the report — especially the type of rockets, the composition of the sarin agent, and trajectory of the missiles — to declare that President Bashar Assad's government was responsible.

A shooting rampage in the heart of a U.S. Navy complex in Washington left at least 12 people dead Monday. One shooter was killed, but police were looking for two other possible gunmen wearing military-style uniforms.

President Barack Obama said he is morning "yet another mass shooting" and called it a "cowardly act."

More than 100 Syrian refugees left Lebanon for Germany on Wednesday under the European country's relocation program for up to 5,000 displaced, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said 107 refugees traveled from Rafik Hariri International Airport with the assistance of the German Embassy.

Syrian rebel fighters announced on Tuesday their withdrawal from the historic Christian town of Maalula near Damascus, two days after they took control of it.

"To ensure no blood is spilled and that the properties of the people of Maalula are kept safe, the Free Syrian Army announces that the town of Maalula will be kept out of the struggle between the FSA and the regime army," a rebel spokesman said in a video posted online.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday the United States should renounce the option of using force in Syria to allow checks on Damascus' chemical weapons to go ahead.

"It all makes sense and can work if the U.S. side and all those who support it renounce the use of force," he said according to Russian television.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday revealed that the extremist al-Nusra Front is preparing to storm the mainly Christian Syrian town of Bloudan near Damascus, lashing out at those who are allegedly backing the jihadist group instead of supporting the historic neighboring town of Maalula.

“We were surprised by a cable received by OTV and FPM's website saying '… amid the assault on the town of Maalula, al-Nusra Front is trying to invade the Christian town of Bloudan, and we are raising our voice because we need greater protection.'”