Israel will attack Lebanese government targets during a future war with Hizbullah, a senior defense official said, lamenting that the Jewish State did not do so during the 2006 aggression on Lebanon.

“It was a mistake not to attack Lebanese government targets during the war in 2006,” The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior defense official as saying. “We will not be able to hold back from doing so in a future war.”

Several Lebanese leaders on Wednesday contacted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to condemn the assassination attempt he escaped earlier in the day, as President Michel Suleiman called for “intensifying the investigations in order to unveil and arrest the perpetrators.”

Former prime minister Saad Hariri telephoned Geagea, deploring the attempt on his life and describing it as the latest in a long series of political assassinations in Lebanon.

European Parliament members visiting Lebanon on Tuesday lauded “the efforts undertaken by the Lebanese authorities, their partners, the NGOs and the local population to provide assistance” to Syrians fleeing the violence in their country to Lebanon.

The parliamentary delegation comprises Veronique de Keyser, Member of the European Parliament and Vice President for Foreign Affairs of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S & D), and Ana Gomes, Member of the European Parliament and the foreign affairs coordinator of the S & D Group.

The cabinet has approved draft-laws to conduct an audit on extra-budgetary spending made between 2006 and 2010 by the governments of ex-Premiers Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri.

The approval came during an eight-hour session held at Baabda Palace under President Michel Suleiman which also witnessed a solution to the controversial electricity plan.

The head of the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan slammed Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi’s report on the extra-budgetary spending of the governments of former Premiers Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri, saying that he omitted various forms of revenue, such as grants and donations.

He told As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Wednesday: “It appears that the report is aimed at allowing a settlement to be reached over extra-budgetary spending.”

The cabinet is set to discuss on Wednesday the detailed accounts of the extra-budgetary spending made by the governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri between 2006 and 2010.

The information that is detailed by the finance ministry in five separate draft-laws was circulated to cabinet ministers in an appendix for discussion by the government in addition to the 76-item agenda.

The cabinet is not likely to approve a draft-law on extra-budgetary spending in 2006-2010 this week after a ministerial committee tasked with studying the issue failed to agree on the plan proposed by Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi.

The committee met under Premier Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail on Monday. But its members were incapable of overcoming their differences on the details of the spending made by the governments of ex-Premiers Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri.

Premier Najib Miqati is making progress in the drafting of the plan aimed at finding a final solution to the extra-budgetary spending made by the governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri in 2006-2010, Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas said.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published Tuesday, Nahhas said: “We are making progress and seeking to come up with a draft acceptable by everyone.”

Premier Najib Miqati and Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan will on Monday put the final touches on a draft-law aimed at resolving the controversy on the extra-budgetary spending made in 2006-2010, the lawmaker said.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5), Kanaan said there is consensus on the approval of the draft-law formulated to resolve the $11 billion spending made by the governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri between 2006 and 2009 and the $5 billion spent by the national unity cabinet of Hariri in 2010.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati has been involved in intense discussions with his team to prepare a draft-law that will seek to legalize the 2006-2010 extra-budgetary spending that has stirred controversy and retorts between the March 8 and 14 forces.

The cabinet tasked Miqati with referring the draft-law to the government during its next session at Baabda palace next Wednesday although it wasn’t mentioned in the agenda which was distributed to ministers on Saturday.