Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized on Thursday Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq for being “unruffled” by the road accidents and the latest road-blocking strike that paralyzed traffic in various Lebanese regions and left drivers stranded in vehicles for hours.

“The Interior Minister is unruffled while running the safety of roads, road accidents and the truck owners strike. As if he lives in the arctic,” said Jumblat in a sarcastic tweet on Thursday.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said a massive explosion near Damascus International Airport on Thursday was consistent with Israel's policy, but stopped short of confirming his country was behind it.

Israeli warplanes have hit the airport and other bases around the Syrian capital in the past, targeting what it said were weapons stockpiles of its Lebanese foe Hizbullah, which is allied with the Syrian government.

For the second day in a row, truck owners started rallying on several roads around Lebanon early on Thursday to protest Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq's decision to shut down sand mining and stone crushing sites, as citizens fear that the bizarre Wednesday scenario of road-blocking could be repeated.

According to the Traffic Management Center, truckers gathered on the Safra highway, Dora-Karantina highway, Zahrani highway and the Khalde-Beirut highway near the Costa Brava.

A massive explosion that struck near Damascus International Airport early on Thursday setting off large fires, was reportedly the result of an Israeli strike that targeted a Hizbullah military base, media reports said.

The blast was outside the airport itself. It was not immediately clear whether it was the result of an air strike or a ground attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Two Lebanese militants belonging to the terrorist Islamic State group have been arrested in the Bekaa town of Kamed al-Lawz, the Internal Security Forces said on Wednesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday condemned the blocking of the country's key roads at the hands of protesting truck owners and noted that the May 15 legislative session is aimed at “avoiding lethal vacuum.”

The March 14 Moustamerroun group of activists noted Wednesday that the latest remarks by President Michel Aoun about “economic and financial threats facing Lebanon and the Lebanese due to the new U.S. and international sanctions that are being prepared to target Hizbullah and its supporters” were “a blunt acknowledgment of the threats created by Hizbullah's arms for the country, the people and the institutions.”

Change and Reform bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan lamented Wednesday that “there is a systematic campaign against the Free Patriotic Movement in the media and through the street protests.”

Truck owners blocked several key roads across Lebanon on Wednesday to protest Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq's decision to shut down sand mining and stone crushing sites.

The Lebanese Forces has denied rejecting the so-called qualification electoral system that has been proposed by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil.