A one-month security plan launched by security forces on Wednesday requires 50,000 members if it were to be implemented the whole year, sources told As Safir daily.

“The worst part of it is that thousands of personnel are used as bodyguards for lawmakers, ministers, judges and embassies, which lead to a security drain,” the sources said in remarks published Thursday.

Members of parliament’s bureau refused to put an urgent draft-law on the allocation of LL11.561 trillion to cover the expenses of state institutions in 2012 on the agenda of a legislative session next week, An Nahar daily reported on Thursday.

A meeting held on Wednesday between the bureau’s members led to the rejection to put the cabinet’s bill on the agenda of the two-day parliamentary session next Monday, it said.

The cabinet summoned the chiefs of security agencies to Baabda Palace on Monday to discuss the several security events which violated the one-month security plan launched earlier in the day and the overall situation in the country.

The government summoned Army Chief General Jean Qahwaji, Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim. The meeting was also attended by State Security chief Maj. Gen. George Qaraa and State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza.

The United States on Wednesday named five Colombia and Venezuela-based men as key players in a sprawling trafficking and money laundering network of alleged Hizbullah-linked Lebanese drug lord Ayman Joumaa.

The U.S. Treasury set sanctions on two Lebanese-born men, Abbas Hussein Harb and Ibrahim Chibli, for helping Joumaa launder what it said were millions of dollars of narcotics-related proceeds.

Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday called for the release of an alleged Hizbullah member who is jailed in Iraq.

"He must be released immediately, and the government should do this immediately," Sadr said in a statement, referring to Ali Moussa Daqdouq, who was accused of plotting the murder of five U.S. soldiers in 2007.

A personal dispute between members of the families of Jaafar and Dirani and Palestinian elements erupted into gunfire on Wednesday in the Beirut southern suburb of Bourj al-Barajneh, state-run National News Agency reported.

The incident did not cause any casualties, the agency added.

A number of youths on Wednesday blocked the airport road with burning tires in protest against the arrest of Wissam Alaeddine, who was detained over the attack against al-Jadeed television on Monday.

LBC television said that a number of youths on motorcycles dumped three or four tires on the road and set them on fire before fleeing the scene.

The March 14 General Secretariat slammed on Wednesday the recent attack against al-Jadeed television, saying it is part of a long list of assaults by the Syrian regime against freedom of expression in Lebanon.

It said in a statement: “The attack is aimed at diverting national dialogue talks away from tackling a national defense strategy that would incorporate Hizbullah’s arms.”

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi expressed Wednesday his “fear over the Syrian crisis and the possibility of the violence spilling over to the neighboring countries,” pointing out that his country is worried “not just regarding the violence in Syria but also the nature of the clashes.”

Terzi arrived in Beirut on Wednesday to address the situation in the region, expressing hope that Lebanon would remain stable amid the turmoil in the neighboring countries.

Several detainees armed with knives and sharp objects rioted inside a Justice Palace courtroom in Baabda on Wednesday amid reports that two of them have escaped.

The riot erupted after the judge heading the trials of the fourteen suspects, who were transferred from Roumieh prison, suspended the session over his failure to keep order in the criminal court.