U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced a technological innovation plan to ensure America's military superiority in the 21st century, expressing concern over technologies and arms obtained by Hizbullah.

“Technologies and weapons that were once the exclusive province of advanced nations have become available to a broad range of militaries and non-state actors, from dangerously provocative North Korea to terrorist organizations like Hizbullah,” Hagel said at a national defense conference at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in Simi Valley, California.

A Peruvian judge has ordered a Lebanese man held for 18 months for investigation for entering the country with false documents and who authorities say belongs to Hizbullah.

Police arrested Mohamed Hamdar on Oct. 28, saying traces of explosives were found among his possessions.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday said he supports going to parliamentary elections if the Constitutional Council decides to shorten the extended term of parliament, stressing that Saudi Arabia did not influence his party's decision to vote in favor of extension.

“If the Constitutional Council decides to shorten the extension period, we are with going to elections, even under the 1960 (electoral) law,” Geagea said in an interview on LBCI television.

A Kuwaiti man kidnapped in August in the eastern Bekaa valley was released on Tuesday and handed over to the authorities, a security source said.

Families of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and soldiers wounded there in attacks allegedly linked to Iran and Hizbullah sued five European banks Monday, claiming their business with Iran helped finance the attacks.

HSBC, Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Barclays Bank were sued in the federal district court in Brooklyn, New York, over their already admitted banking business with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Ethiopian athlete Fikadu Girma won on Sunday the 2014 Banque du Liban Beirut international marathon.

He won the 42.195 kilometer race in 2:12.28.

The emir of Kuwait visited Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Friday in a bid to bring two of the Gulf's most powerful nations closer ahead of crucial talks next week.

Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, who is tasked with kick-starting rapprochement between Doha and its Gulf neighbors, met the Emirati vice president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi before talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Gulf news agencies reported.

At least 12 civilians, including women and children, were killed on Thursday when Syrian regime helicopters dropped explosive-packed barrel bombs on a district in Aleppo city, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack hit the Muwasalat district of Shaar neighborhood in the rebel-held east of the city.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea launched a scathing attack on Wednesday against the Change and Reform bloc led by MP Michel Aoun, accusing it of seeking to “change the political system” and noting that the LF voted for extending the parliament's term in order to prevent the fall of the state.

“It has become obvious that the aim of the Change and Reform bloc is toppling all state institutions as a prelude to changing the entire political system through a constituent assembly,” Geagea said at a press conference in Maarab, hours after the parliament voted to extend its own term for another 27 months.

Supporters of a pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah who has spent 30 years in French jail, were informed on Wednesday of a French court's decision on rejecting the ninth demand of his conditioned release.

They were notified at 3:45 pm during their sit-in in front of the French Embassy in Lebanon.