Former premier Saad Hariri on Wednesday stressed that any attempts to stir up a confrontation between the army and the Sunni residents of border regions would be “unsuccessful like those behind them.”

Answering another question on Twitter on whether he believed that removing weapons from Palestinian camps and those of the “terrorist Salafist groups” had priority over removing Hizbullah’s arms, Hariri said: “All at once; any (illegal) weapons in the country are harmful. Only the state should possess weapons.”

Authorities in Mauritania have exposed a major Israeli spy network comprising a member involved in the “bombing” of the Ethiopian plane which crashed into Lebanon’s territorial waters on January 25, 2010, a Mauritanian website has reported.

An Arab businessman heads the alleged Mossad network, elhourriya.net said.

March 14 General Secretariat lauded on Wednesday U.N. Chief Ban Ki-moon’s scheduled visit to Lebanon as a reminder that implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions are important to end the arms chaos in the country.

It said that the visit will be an opportunity to remind the Lebanese, Arab and international communities that the “full implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions on Lebanon will put an end to the arms chaos and the lack of control on the Lebanese-Syrian border.”

The Council of Maronite Bishops on Wednesday urged officials to abide by the constitution and called for the implementation of decisions reached at the National Dialogue over the spread of arms.

Following their monthly meeting under Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki, the bishops expressed concern at the “fragile security situation,” urging the political leadership to “implement the decisions of the National Dialogue in terms of weapons in the entire territories and continue discussions on the rest of topics.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that his meeting with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Saudi Arabia tackled the latest developments locally and in the region.

“We discussed our position if the cabinet wasn’t able to survive, the (2013) parliamentary elections, and the collapse of the Syrian regime and its aftermath,” Geagea told the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai in an interview to be published on Thursday.

The Israeli army and the Israel Atomic Energy Commission are preparing for the possibility of an attempted attack on the Dimona nuclear reactor during a conflict with Iran, Syria, Hizbullah or Hamas, Haaretz daily reported.

Dimona is located within the range of surface-to-surface missiles possessed by Iran, Syria and Hizbullah, it said.

The Internal Security Forces have launched an investigation into the theft of huge quantities of sand from the coast of the southern city of Tyre in the area of Shawakeer.

The National News Agency said Tuesday that unknown assailants used trucks under the cover of darkness to dig craters – one of them 100 meters long, 30 meters wide and up to seven meters deep – to steal the sand.

The appointments of top civil servants and diplomats will be discussed by the cabinet next week at a session that will be headed by President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

“There is a thorough review for all the vacant administrative positions (in government institutions) in order to issue a comprehensive package,” Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s sources told the daily.

The cabinet is expected to discuss a new wage hike next week after the Shura Council rejected on Tuesday a previous decree proposed by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas on the increase of salaries.

The General Labor Confederation and the Economic Committees that had agreed to set the minimum wage at L675,000 – excluding the transportation allowance - welcomed the Shura Council’s rejection of the government decision aimed at setting the minimum salary at LL868,000 including a LL236,000 transportation allowance.

The allies of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun in the March 8 forces are pressuring him into being “rational” and “dealing positively” with the Shura Council’s rejection of a wage hike proposal made by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas who is loyal to Aoun.

An Nahar and As Safir newspapers said Wednesday that March 8 leaders are urging Aoun’s “Change and Reform bloc to deal positively with the decision of the Shura Council under the slogan of preserving the interests of workers and employees.”