A huge explosion went off in an alleged arms depot in the Hizbullah stronghold of Siddiqin in the South overnight and party members prevented the security forces from reaching the area, media reports said Wednesday.

The reports said the cause of the blast could not be determined after Hizbullah drew a tight security dragnet around the scene of the explosion.

The U.S. handed over all of the remaining detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq Tuesday, except for a Hizbullah commander linked to the death of four American troops, Iraqi and American officials said.

The prisoner transfer marks another step toward the American military's withdrawal from Iraq, as it plans for all U.S. troops to be out of the country by the end of this year.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday announced that he would not “defend” Premier Najib Miqati’s government if the rival Mustaqbal Movement sought to topple it in the near future.

Asked about the views he shares with Miqati during an interview on his movement’s mouthpiece OTV, Aoun said: “We agree with PM Miqati that Lebanon’s security is interlinked with that of Syria. We will see if the Mustaqbal Movement will call for toppling the government, but we will not defend it.”

The United States said Tuesday it has placed a suspected Saudi member of an Islamist militant group based in Lebanon on its list of international terrorists.

The State Department said it had designated Ibrahim Suleiman Hamad al-Hablain, known as Abu Jabal, a "specially designated global terrorist," a classification that bars Americans from doing business with him or on his behalf.

Lebanese woman Myriam al-Ashqar, 28, was found dead and soaked in blood Tuesday in a forestland located between the Keserwan towns of Sahel Alma and Harisa, LBC television reported.

It later appeared that she was killed by the janitor of the Our Lady of the Annunciation monastery in Baqloush, where she went to pray on Monday and where she used to pray several times every other week, LBC said.

Three Mustaqbal bloc MPs and several Sunni Muslim clerics on Tuesday called on President Michel Suleiman, Premier Najib Miqati and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji to shoulder their responsibilities concerning what they called “the attack against the Bekaa town of Arsal on the eve of the 68th anniversary of independence.”

“According to verified information, a plainclothes group comprising bearded members belonging to the ‘party of weapons’ (Hizbullah) entered the town of Arsal Monday night and tried to abduct a Syrian national belonging to the Qarqouz family,” said a statement issued after a meeting at MP Mohammed Kabbara’s residence in the northern city of Tripoli.

Lebanon commemorated on Tuesday its 68th independence anniversary in downtown Beirut, marking the liberation from the French Mandate which was exercised over Lebanese soil for over 23 years.

President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Speaker Nabih Berri headed the officials that joined the celebrations marking the country’s independence.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated on Tuesday that Lebanon is facing a struggle over asserting the role of the state in controlling the country and combating attempts to impose the role of the “statelet” over it.

He said before a delegation of NDU students: “It is a battle between two different points of view, one that calls for the rule of the state institutions and army and the other that does not believe in the state and that opposes the Arab and international communities.”

Lebanon’s midfielder Rida Antar who inspired the country’s historic victory against South Korea during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers was chosen as Goal.com’s player of the week.

The website recognized the player for his role in the victory, a first by Lebanon against the Asian nation.

The President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Judge Sir David Baragwanath, will arrive in Lebanon on Wednesday, al-Liwaa newspaper reported.

Baragwanath will hold a meeting with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail to reiterate the importance of paying Lebanon’s dues to the tribunal before December 15, the daily said on Tuesday.