The Lebanese army announced on Monday the arrest of several suspected terrorists and fugitives in raids it carried out in several areas across Lebanon.

A military communique said troops apprehended Safi Sobhi al-Daroubi who is wanted for tossing explosives and using arms in the area of Sabra in Beirut.

Speaker Nabih Berri has criticized parliamentary blocs that are pressuring him into putting certain draft-laws on the agenda of a legislative session, saying he is not their employee.

The Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces had urged Berri to put a draft-law on giving the nationality to Lebanese expatriates on the agenda of the session.

Civil Defense firefighters battled a blaze that erupted overnight at the Monroe Hotel in DownTown Beirut as an enormous plume of smoke rose from the hotel's building.

On Saturday, the Civil Defense said in a statement via Twitter that its “firefighters were able to douse a fire that erupted at the hotel's building, evacuating all workers and residents.”

The army continued on Thursday the implementation of its security plan in Beirut and its southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, announced the military in a statement.

It arrested several suspects, including a Palestinian, in raids in al-Mraijeh, Ain al-Sikka, al-Raml al-Ali, al-Cocodi, and Sabra.

Speaker Nabih Berri praised on Wednesday the implementation of a security plan in Beirut and its southern suburbs of Dahiyeh.

He said: “We laud the plan and role of the security agencies in cracking down on terrorist cells.”

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq toured on Wednesday Beirut's southern suburbs in the light of the security deployment in the area after a security plan kicked off.

“The security is restored in several areas across Lebanon despite the conflict in the region,” Mashnouq said in a press conference from al-Ouzai area.

The army and Internal Security Forces took into force a security plan in Beirut and its southern suburbs to apprehend outlaws, the military announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The plan will last several days and include holding numerous stationary and temporary checkpoints.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil were on Friday at loggerheads over the Syrian refugee crisis after accusations that the authorities were accepting more displaced Syrians despite a decision not to do so.

Derbas and Bassil briefly argued over the issue during a cabinet session held at the Grand Serail on Thursday after the foreign minister told the government that he had information about the entry of more Syrian refugees to Lebanon.

Speaker Nabih Berri has canceled the meeting of the Arab Inter-parliamentary Union (AIPU) that was set to be held in Beirut end of April after he was informed by Saudi Arabia that it would not attend the talks, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

Berri informed Arab parliaments that “the conference has been canceled for non-Lebanese reasons,” said al-Joumhouria.

The contempt case against al-Jadeed TV network and journalist Karma al-Khayat, accused of obstructing justice, kicked off on Thursday at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague.

Al-Khayat and al-Jadeed S.A.L. are charged with two counts of contempt and obstruction of justice under rule 60 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence.