Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea blasted the government on Monday over its failure to address the growing waste management crisis, describing the latest developments as a “major scandal.”

“What we're witnessing today regarding the issue of waste management is a major scandal that has dangerous repercussions on the environmental, health and social security of the Lebanese,” said Geagea at an LF ceremony in Maarab.

Defense Minister Samir Moqbel held talks Monday with Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun in Rabieh.

“I came here today to explore General Aoun's demands and we held a thorough discussion on the current situations in the country,” said Moqbel after the meeting.

A bomb has targeted the vehicle of a Lebanese army chief warrant officer in the northern city of Tripoli, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.

NNA said 200 grams of explosives went off in the gray Mercedes that was parked in a parking lot in al-Wadih street of Tripoli's al-Qobbeh area at 3:00 am.

British Ambassador Tom Fletcher has stated that a waste crisis similar to that of Lebanon had contributed to the ouster of the UK government in the seventies of the last century, As Safir daily reported on Monday.

Answering a question on the waste crisis and how the UK would have reacted Fletcher said: “The trade unions decided back then to work for three days per week only, which led to the accumulation of waste in the streets of London. That outraged the people and triggered a series of popular protests which led to the fall of government.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has described the country's waste crisis as a “national disaster,” warning that street protests could spiral out of control and lead to detrimental effects.

“We are facing a national disaster that is much more dangerous than some (people) imagine,” Salam told As Safir daily in remarks published on Monday.

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat did not rule out another extension for the landfill that lies in Naameh south of Beirut to find a temporary solution for Lebanon's waste management crisis.

In remarks to al-Akhbar daily published on Monday, Jumblat said that he hasn't so far seen a serious initiative to resolve the crisis which erupted when the landfill was closed on July 17 in accordance with a government decision taken earlier this year.

Protesters reopened on Monday a vital highway that links Beirut with the South following a pledge made by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq not to transfer waste to Iqlim al-Kharroub region without a deal with municipalities.

Earlier Monday, three demonstrators and four policemen were injured during a clash when police tried to force protesters to open the Jiyeh highway.

A man was shot and wounded Sunday in the Bekaa city of Baalbek over a real estate dispute, state-run National News Agency reported.

“H. M. Hlaihel fired a pistol at Nader Ahmed Hlaihel, 41, in the Baalbek district of al-Qalaa over a dispute on the ownership of a real estate property,” NNA said.

Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc ex-PM Fouad Saniora snapped back Sunday at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, condemning his remarks on the government and the domestic affairs and accusing him of orchestrating the latest moves of the Free Patriotic Movement.

“In the remarks he addressed to al-Mustaqbal movement, he openly declared that he supports the FPM in its coup against the Constitution and the government,” Saniora said in a statement, referring to the televised speech that Nasrallah delivered on Saturday.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas, who is close to Prime Minister Tammam Salam, announced Sunday that the embattled premier will “announce his decision at the right time,” amid reports that the PM is on the brink of resignation over the growing cabinet crisis.

“The government is not only its head, as there are ministers and components, and it is unfair to blame the premier for the behavior of the components,” said Derbas after meeting Salam in Msaitbeh.