Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Wednesday Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun’s statements, saying that his “disastrous” tenure in rule has been rife with corruption.

He told Free Lebanon radio: “Aoun is the last person who is entitled to speak about honor.”

A wanted Lebanese man was arrested on several charges on Wednesday after he alleged that he escaped his abductors by jumping out of a speeding car, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said the man’s wife identified as Zeinab Mohammed Assaf, 22, told Burj al-Barajneh police in Beirut’s southern suburbs that brothers Fadi, Ali and Hassan al-Qaafarani kidnapped her 37-year-old husband Izzat Ali al-Hajj.

The Progressive Socialist Party announced that the 35th assassination anniversary of its founder Kamal Jumblat will not be held during a popular rally.

PSP’s media office said in a statement that the anniversary will be marked by placing a wreath at Jumblat’s grave in Mukhtara on Friday.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah held a meeting with a delegation from Hamas headed by Deputy Hamas Politburo Chief Mousa Abu Marzouk, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The delegations tackled the latest developments in Syria, Gaza and the situation in the Arab world, in addition to the ties between Hizbullah, Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.

President Michel Suleiman called on Wednesday for the coordination of the defense, interior and telecommunications ministries to resolve the case of the extremist network that was planning attacks on the Lebanese army.

According to Information Minister Walid al-Daouq, Suleiman told the cabinet that convened at Baabda palace that “the army is the backbone of stability in the country.”

President Michel Suleiman called on Wednesday for increasing the penalties imposed on those who are violating the “food safety” measures and endangering public safety.

“The issue should be treated on all levels,” Information Minister Walid al-Daouq quoted Suleiman as saying.

The cabinet adopted several bills on Wednesday but failed to discuss the draft-law on the 2006-2010 extra-budgetary spending that according to Premier Najib Miqati was finalized but it remained up to the finance ministry to settle its “technical” aspects.

Following a cabinet session held at the Baabda palace, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq said the government approved draft-laws linked to money laundering, Value Added Tax and money transfers.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc noted Tuesday that “the seventh anniversary of the Cedar Revolution is taking place amid circumstances that reflect the struggle of the March 14 supporters, which was baptized in blood with the fall of a group of martyrs for the sake of freedom, sovereignty and independence.”

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc vowed to “stay the course towards completing the transition to statehood,” saying the state “must extend its exclusive authority over the entire Lebanese territory.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Tuesday called on the Palestinian people to “hold on to their rights and to continue the struggle,” condemning the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and describing him as “an expert in bloodletting.”

“Netanyahu – who is an expert in bloodletting – is pouring out all his wrath on besieged Gaza after he failed to market his idea about a military strike against Iran,” Jumblat said in a communiqué issued by the PSP.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday snapped back at Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea who has criticized the stances of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on the Syrian crisis.

“I’m not surprised by the campaign against the patriarch, but even at the peak of our dispute with the Maronite patriarchate, we did not launch such remarks against this spiritual post,” Aoun said after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in Rabiyeh.