U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander General Joseph L. Votel visited Lebanon Tuesday as part of a multi-stop tour of the Middle East, the U.S. Embassy said.

Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb, who is in charge of overseeing the government's emergency waste management plan, hoped Tuesday that the Free Patriotic Movement will not be allowed to join Kataeb Party's protests outside the Bourj Hammoud landfill, as he warned that the alternative to the plan would be the return of the piles of trash that invaded the country's streets, forests and riverbanks last year.

The Free Patriotic Movement's expected escalation over the file of military appointments will remain “limited” and will not reach the extent of toppling the government, a media report said on Tuesday.

The Free Patriotic Movement is expected to join the Kataeb Party and the Tashnag Party in a protest scheduled for Tuesday outside the Bourj Hammoud garbage landfill, in a move aimed at sending a “message” that “street protests are an option,” a media report said on Tuesday.

Hizbullah MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi on Monday defended the Hizbullah-linked Resistance Brigades after Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq's latest criticism of the group and accused Riyadh of blocking the election of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun as president.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's latest remarks about the return of Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri to the premiership were only aimed at “misleading the Lebanese,” Mustaqbal bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat said on Monday.

Speaker Nabih Berri has ruled out possible ministerial resignations over the thorny issue of military appointments while stressing that only the so-called “package deal” he has proposed can resolve the country's multiple political crises.

An Iraqi young man was released at dawn Monday after a brief kidnap in the eastern Bekaa region, state-run National News Agency reported.

Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to launch several decisive stances that would take the form of a “roadmap” in his upcoming speech during the commemoration of the 39th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions, a media report said on Monday.

The cabinet is not facing the threat of collapse despite the disagreements over military appointments, a media report said on Monday, citing the Free Patriotic Movement's “interests” in Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet and the latest stances of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.