Senate Republicans demanded answers Thursday from the Justice Department and Pentagon for why a Hizbullah suspect accused in the death of five U.S. soldiers was transferred to Iraqi custody before being charged with war crimes.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee wanted assurances U.S. officials would seek to keep Ali Musa Daqduq behind bars, even as an Iraqi court ruled the Hizbullah commander be released over lack of evidence.

Premier Najib Miqati is exerting every effort to guarantee a cabinet consensus on the $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending of 2011 to avoid an embarrassment after the discussion of the issue was postponed for the second week in a row on Wednesday.

Sources close to Miqati told An Nahar daily published Friday that the solution to the spending crisis continues to face obstacles but hoped that a session set by the PM for next week would give him enough time to find an exit to the bickering between the cabinet’s different members.

Lebanese officials have slammed Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat for criticizing army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji as a person with limited capabilities.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Friday, the unidentified officials stressed that the army has made a series of achievements whether in southern Lebanon or other areas and has prevented Israel from encroaching on Lebanese territories during its construction of a separation wall on the border.

The United States is urging Lebanese banks to take "extra" caution in handling financial transactions with Syria, to prevent the Assad regime and its supporters from stashing money abroad, a senior Treasury official said Thursday.

"We want to be as careful as possible that the regime, its cronies, its allies that may be trying to shield their assets might not be able to do so," said David Cohen, the Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has warned that the abduction on Monday of Father Walid Gharious in the Bekaa Valley “might jeopardize civil peace.”

In an interview with CNNArabic, Geagea strongly condemned the kidnap operation, stressing that the case “must not be wrapped up through the approach of consensual security, because consensual security implies that the state has ceded its powers to local organizations, which would destroy the state and violate the coexistence charter.”

The defense team for Mustafa Badreddine -- who is accused of involvement in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri -- on Friday filed a motion challenging the legality of the establishment of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon which has been probing the case since 2007, the STL said in a statement.

“In its Motion the Badreddine team argue that the STL was unlawfully established and that the Security Council abused its powers by adopting resolution 1757 (2007),” said the STL.

President Michel Suleiman telephoned on Thursday his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad to condemn the twin Damascus explosions that took place earlier in the day.

He told Assad: “Bombings that have cost the lives of several civilians are not the proper way to achieve democracy.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati called on the Lebanese on Thursday to cooperate in order to safeguard the country and overcome all the obstacles facing it.

“The political rhetoric (in Lebanon) remains under the cap of democracy that we hold onto, as the country has always been able to overcome” the obstacles through the unity of its people, Miqati said during the opening ceremony of the Arab Economic Forum at the Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut.

Authorities are tracking down a Lebanese man who is allegedly playing a critical role in smuggling arms to the Syria opposition, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.

According to the daily, the Lebanese authorities informed the Syrian authorities about the preliminary investigations regarding the Lebanese navy’s interception of weapons aboard the Sierra Leone-flagged Lutfallah II ship.

The cabinet session held at the Baabda Palace witnessed a heated debate between Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel over the controversial telecom data dispute.

Qortbawi lashed out at Charbel during Wednesday’s session for criticizing three judges at the judicial committee, which is tasked with assessing the possibility of providing the security forces with the telecom data, accusing them of not carrying out their full responsibilities.