The Iranian and Russian embassies in Beirut went on high alert after obtaining information that extremist groups are plotting to target them, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the daily, the two embassies started taking extra ordinary security measures and called for a back up from the Lebanese army.

Several inmates at the Zahle prison on Tuesday set ablaze one of the wings at the facility to protest alleged abuse by an officer and their living conditions.

“Inmates torched one of Zahle prison's wards in protest at the practices of one of the officers against them,” MTV reported.

French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday he discussed the situation in Lebanon with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama during a visit to Washington, stressing the importance of preventing the country from “descending into civil war.”

“France has historic ties with Lebanon and we're supporting it as large numbers of refugees flee to it” from neighboring Syria, Hollande said at a joint press conference with Obama.

The Trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Tuesday approved a request from the Prosecution to join the case against the accused Hassan Habib Merhi to the case against Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Assad Sabra and Hussein Oneissi, whose in absentia trial had started on January 16.

The chamber issued its oral ruling during a public hearing in The Hague, saying a written decision on the matter will be issued “in due course.”

The Change and Reform bloc lashed out at Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday, accusing him of contradicting with the clauses of the Bkirki Charter.

"We are the party that values the Bkirki Charter and no one should explain it in different terms to serve their interests,” MP Ibrahim Kanaan stated after the bloc's weekly meeting.

Jackie Chamoun, the Lebanese skier competing at the Sochi Winter Olympics, has sparked a flap in the country, including a ministerial demand for an investigation, after risque photos of her taken for a calendar resurfaced online.

The photos of Chamoun taken for the calendar show her holding strategically-placed ski equipment to protect her modesty as she poses in Faraya mountains.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday challenged rivals in the Hizbullah-led camp to endorse the recent charter issued by Bkirki as a “national program of action,” noting that some parties have only voiced “verbal support” for the document.

“The Bkirki charter reminded me of the famous Bkirki declaration,” said Geagea at a press conference he held at his Maarab headquarters.

The military prosecutor charged on Tuesday two suspects for having ties with Jamal Daftardar, a prominent official in the al-Qaida linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

The charges were issued by Judge Saqr Saqr against a Lebanese man, who is in custody, and another Palestinian suspect.

A rocket from Syrian territories landed on Tuesday on the outskirts of the eastern Bekaa town of Hermel, a Hizbullah stronghold, media reports said.

However, the state-run National News Agency reported that explosion sounds heard in Hermel were caused by a raid carried out by Syrian planes inside Syria near the border region of al-Qaa in the northern Bekaa.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi called on Tuesday for the formation of a government that does not lead to a crisis in Lebanon and for holding the presidential elections on time.

“The government should not cause a crisis if it was formed according to everyone's wishes in Lebanon,” al-Rahi told reporters at Rafik Hariri International Airport before making a two-week trip to the Vatican.