The Ulemas of Sidon accused on Wednesday Hizbullah fighters of taking part in the clashes that took place in the southern city on Sunday and Monday.

They questioned during a press conference “the role the fighters were playing alongside the army in the Abra clashes.”

Speaker Nabih Berri called parliament to session for the first week of July.

The session will convene on July 1, 2, and 3, revealed deputy Speaker Farid Makari after a meeting for parliament's bureau at the speaker's Ain el-Tineh residence.

Lebanese police are torturing vulnerable people being held in custody, including drug users, sex workers and homosexuals, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report on Wednesday.

"Abuse is common in Lebanon's police stations, but it is even worse for people like drug users or sex workers," the New York-based group's deputy Middle East director Nadim Houry said.

Around 25 people riding a van in the area of Jisr al-Wati in Sin el-Fil were attacked with knives on Wednesday by several assailants, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said that the passengers, who included Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians, were heading to a studio to participate in a TV show when they were intercepted by eight assailants riding two vehicles.

Parliament's bureau will on Wednesday set the agenda for a parliamentary session that is scheduled to vote on the extension of army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji's mandate, media reports have said.

LBCI TV said the session will be held in early July.

The Speaker and Head of AMAL movement Nabih Berri denied on Wednesday reports saying that his supporters and Hizbullah members participated alongside the army in the battles in the southern city of Sidon.

“I urged AMAL supporters and the Haret Saida's residents to exercise self-restraint,” Berri said in comments published in local newspapers.

Speaker Nabih Berri has hoped for a quick government formation as Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam relied on his efforts to facilitate his task.

In remarks to local dailies published on Wednesday, Berri said that he has agreed with Salam during a meeting they held on Monday to put together a cabinet as soon as possible.

A Lebanese bank accused of laundering money from drugs and other operations for clients tied to Hizbullah agreed Tuesday to pay U.S. authorities $102 million to settle the charges.

Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank was singled out in February 2011 for allegedly moving hundreds of millions of dollars for criminal groups and traffickers operating in Latin America, West Africa and the Middle East.

European Union ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst on Tuesday reiterated the EU's support to the Lebanese institutions, stressing that security agencies "must be able to ensure peace and security throughout the territory."

"The security incidents in (the southern city of) Sidon, as well as in (the northern city of) Tripoli, the Bekaa and even in Beirut, once again demonstrate the volatility of the situation,” Eichhorst said in a released statement after heading a delegation of ambassadors and representatives of EU member states who met with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday responded to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's accusations of his party supporting gunmen against the military institution, assuring that he gave “full political cover” for the army in its fight in the southern city of Sidon.

"We announced our support for the army in words and in deeds, and gave it full cover to strike with an iron fist anyone who may be tempted to assault the state and threaten national peace,” Hariri said in a released statement.