Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil unveiled that agreement has been reached between Premier-designate Najib Miqati and the March 8 forces to form a 30-member cabinet but stressed that the Free Patriotic Movement is insisting on forming a government made up of 32 ministers.

“There is an agreement on an initial 30-member government formula that allows us to move to the next stage,” Bassil told An Nahar daily in remarks published Thursday.

A bomb exploded in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh on Wednesday night near a Fatah movement base, causing material damage only, Palestinian security sources said.

The sources told As Safir daily that the bomb went off at 10:15 pm Wednesday in the Taytaba neighborhood, 50 meters from the Fatah offices and was followed but gunfire.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday noted that "weapons outside state control are aimed at bullying the State," adding that "illegal weapons cause division and destruction."

At a dinner organized by Lebanese Forces and Mustaqbal engineers, the outgoing premier said his political agenda does not include "a return to cabinet."

Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud on Wednesday noted that security forces “strived throughout four days to contain the situation in the Roumieh prison without any bloodshed.”

In an interview with OTV, Baroud added that he has asked Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi to open a probe into the death of two inmates, noting that “there will be a detailed probe and drastic measures.”

French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton on Wednesday said his country was not worried over the delay in forming a new Lebanese cabinet, noting that Saad Hariri's cabinet took five months in the making.

In an interview with Al-Jadeed television, Pietton said premier-designate Najib Miqati's mission was being hindered by the "conflicting demands" of the political parties.

The Internal Security Forces announced on Wednesday that it has ended the Roumieh prison riot, saying that it sought to end the mutiny itself “in order to end the bloodshed between inmates.”

It said in a statement: “Despite the promises made to all the inmates’ reasonable demands, the riots reached such an extent that some internal prisons were opened up to each other, which presented a real danger to the lives of different prisoners.”

A meeting between Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza, Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi, and acting gendarmerie chief Salah Jebran on the situation of prisons in Lebanon was held on Wednesday at the Center House.

The gatherers said in a statement that the prison file concerns all governments and ministries and “the violation of jail security is a red line that should not be crossed.”

The Lebanese Forces stated on Wednesday that the WikiLeaks cable released by Al-Akhbar newspaper on Tuesday confirmed that the party does not possess weapons.

The cable claimed that LF leader Samir Geagea had informed former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison that the party has 10,000 trained fighters ready to combat Hizbullah.

The March 14 General Secretariat commended on Wednesday the security forces’ efforts in confronting the recent security incidents in Lebanon, noting that the instability “justifies the March 14 demand to end the possession of arms outside the state’s authority.”

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “Besides being a threat to stability, the security incidents are political messages from internal and external sides once again aimed at using Lebanon as a vessel to deliver political messages.”

MP Marwan Hamadeh stressed the importance of money in confronting Hizbullah’s growing influence in Lebanon, revealed a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published in Al-Akhbar newspaper on Wednesday.

The August 2006 WikiLeaks cable spoke of a meeting between Hamadeh, then MP Nayla Mouawad, and then U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman during which they hoped that the American administration would pressure Arab gulf states to transfer political funds to the March 14 camp to confront Hizbullah.