Energy Minister Jebran Bassil said on Friday that the ministry opened the door before applicants to fill the vacant posts in the board of directors of the oil authority, calling on those who are qualified to apply.

“If we worked swiftly, without any political obstacles, the committee members will be appointed in mid-May,” Bassil told As Safir newspaper.

Lebanese security experts, who have scoured the forest in the vicinity of Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea’s residence in Maarab, have uncovered that a nine-member assassination team divided into three groups was involved in the killing attempt, media reports said Friday.

Al-Liwaa daily reported that two of the three groups were in charge of firing on Geagea as he was walking on Wednesday in the garden of his fortified house, northeast of Beirut.

Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui slammed on Friday the March 14 forces’ accusations that he would be held responsible for preventing the security forces from obtaining the telecom data.

“The ministry will deal with the issue according to principles and will not back down on implementing the law,” Sehnaoui told As Safir newspaper.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati hailed on Friday the decision by a ministerial committee tasked with studying the leasing of the power-generating vessels to ink an agreement with the Turkish company Karadeniz.

According to al-Liwaa newspaper, the premier considered that the decision reached his expectations as the tenders with the companies were transparent and the original price was slashed by 9 percent.

The United States denounced on Thursday the assassination attempt against Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and said Washington was concerned he may have been targeted because of his opposition to the Syrian regime.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington "condemns in the strongest terms what appears to be an assassination attempt targeting Lebanese politician Samir Geagea."

Canada on Thursday ordered the extradition of a university professor of Lebanese descent wanted in France in connection with a deadly 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that left four dead and dozens wounded.

Hassan Diab, a sociologist at the University of Ottawa who has denied any involvement, will have one month to appeal the justice ministry's extradition order, said ministry spokesman Christian Girouard.

A ministerial committee tasked with scrutinizing a plan to lease power-generating vessels on Thursday reached an agreement with a Turkish company after slashing the costs by nine percent.

“The ministerial panel tasked with following up on talks with the two ship leasing firms, the American Weller Marine and the Turkish Karadeniz, has successfully finished its negotiations,” Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil said after the committee’s meeting.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea revealed on Thursday that investigations into his assassination attempt have uncovered the location from which the snipers fired their shots, announced the LF in a statement.

He said: “I was not hasty in making political accusations in the matter.”

Syrian security authorities thwarted on Wednesday night the infiltration of an “armed terrorist group” from Lebanese territory into a town in Reef Homs in Syria, reported the Syrian news agency SANA on Thursday.

An informed source said that a member of the group was arrested after being wounded, while the rest of the members fled to Lebanon.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly expressed on Thursday concern about the “reported” assassination attempt against Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea.

He said after holding talks with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel: “The incident underlines the need for vigilance.”