A string of recent bombings in Lebanon, many of them suicide attacks, has raised fears of a homegrown jihadist threat driven by the Syrian civil war across the border.

Since July, a series of ten bomb blasts have hit Lebanon, six of them involving suicide bombers.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered on Thursday the release of five people detained over the Choueifat bombing.

According to the state-run National News Agency, investigations with the five suspects showed that they have nothing to do with the Monday's blast and have no ties with the suicide bomber.

The army and security forces are implementing a security plan in the South after a rise in the rate of terrorist bombings targeting Shiite areas and amid reports that the supporters of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and other extremists would carry out attacks in southern cities and towns.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday quoted security sources as saying that the plan was in the initial implementation stage and came upon the request of the leaderships of Hizbullah and Amal movement.

The new government of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam is expected to be announced on Thursday or over the weekend following the return of President Michel Suleiman from a trip to Tunisia.

An Nahar newspaper said Thursday that Suleiman and Salam put the final touches on the cabinet lineup during a meeting at Baabda Palace on Wednesday, their second in three days.

Caretaker Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi will reportedly be appointed to form a new cabinet after the expected resignation of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's government.

According to al-Liwaa newspaper published on Thursday, Safadi will be named by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, a move that will be supported by his March 8 allies.

Syrian army troops lured three teens who hail from the northern city of Akkar to one of its site and they haven't returned to their homes yet, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

"The three boys are Alaa Khaled Khamis from the town of Wadi Khaled, Bashar Abdul Razzaq from al-Awwadah village and Odey Moqtada al-Moudir,” the families of the young men said in a released statement, noting that their sons are all aged 14.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam was Wednesday putting the “final touches” on his cabinet lineup, amid reports that he might wait for some time before announcing it.

Salam discussed a draft lineup with President Michel Suleiman during a meeting in Baabda in the evening, according to al-Jadeed television.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Bahia Hariri filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against MTV after a show on the local television channel aired a computer-generated image that was considered offensive to Islam.

The image shows the veiled lawmaker's head placed on the body of a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” and it was aired during “Hayda Haki,” a weekly satirical program hosted by comedian and TV personality Adel Karam.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon heard on Wednesday the testimony of an Internal Security Forces officer, who claimed that several metal pieces recovered from the crater caused by the massive bombing on Feb. 14, 2005, belonged to a vehicle from the motorcade of ex-PM Rafik Hariri and the Mitsubishi van that the suicide bomber used.

The prosecution's witness, who went by a code number and whose identity remained protected, appeared via video link from Beirut.

Security forces foiled on Wednesday an attempt to smuggle 30,000 captagon pills via Rafik Hariri International Airport.

"After a thorough investigation, airport security at the Beirut Airport were able to foil an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of captagon pills,” the Internal Security Forces General-Directorate said in a released statement, noting that they were bound for an Arab country.