The cabinet failed on Thursday to take any decision as ministers traded blame and accusations on several issues, including the extension of the terms of top military brass, despite a relatively calm session.

Before the session, Prime Minister Tammam Salam insisted to discuss urgent issues, but the Free Patriotic Movement ministers wanted to stick to the government's working mechanism and the appointment of top military and security officials.

Security forces said on Thursday that they have arrested the suspected rapist of a 14-year-old girl in the Metn town of Rawda.

A communique issued by the Internal Security Forces said a man complained to police in Bourj Hammoud on July 18 that a 34-year-old man had kidnapped his minor daughter.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said Thursday that he would take more escalatory measures if needed but stressed that he would give dialogue a chance amid fresh warnings by his son-in-law Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil.

“We will resort to escalation if needed, but we back dialogue,” Aoun was quoted as telling reporters at his residence in Rabieh.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat have discussed ways to “remove the obstacles” facing state institutions, Hariri's press office announced on Thursday.

The statement said the meeting took place at Hariri's residence in France on Wednesday night.

Employees of the Beirut Port held a sit-in on Thursday protesting an alleged government decision to use a nearby real estate as a dump site.

MTV said that more than 100 employees staged the sit-in and prevented trucks transporting goods from entering the port causing long queues at the Port entrance.

Sources close to Prime Minister Tammam Salam have said that Jordanian authorities expressed readiness to facilitate the export of Lebanese products through the Port of Aqaba.

The sources told al-Mustaqbal daily published on Thursday that the pledge was made during Salam's one-day visit to Jordan a day earlier.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi emphasized on Thursday that the Free Patriotic Movement led by MP Michel Aoun will not succeed in widening the gap between the Christians and Muslims, al-Mustaqbal daily reported.

“Aoun will not be succeed to drag us against our convictions of Muslim-Christian partnership,” said Rifi in an interview to the daily.

Sources close to Hizbullah have stressed that the party backs all of the moves taken by its ally Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun inside and outside the cabinet.

Hizbullah “supports all of Aoun's moves inside the government and even on the streets,” the sources told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Thursday.

A Lebanese fugitive was arrested Wednesday as he was trying to smuggle “chemical substances that could be used in bomb-making” to the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal.

“Today, army forces in the Arsal region arrested the fugitive Ahmed Khaled al-Hujeiri as he was trying to smuggle chemical substances that could be used in bomb-making to the town's outskirts,” the Army Command said in a statement.

Free Patriotic Movement supporters staged motorized protests on Wednesday and organized a central rally at Beirut's Martyrs Square, following a call by MP Michel Aoun to demonstrate against the extension of the mandate of top military officers in an attempt to put pressure on the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

“More than 200 cars from the FPM's youth department took off in a convoy from the Mirna Chalouhi highway (in Sin el-Fil) towards Martyrs Square in central Beirut,” state-run National News Agency reported Wednesday evening.