Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea urged Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi to carry on with a request to refer the trail of ex-Minister Michel Samaha to the judicial council in the wake of his release from jail.

“I urge the Justice Minister to go ahead with the draft project to refer the case of Samaha to the judicial council,” said Geagea via twitter on Sunday.

French sources following up closely on the Lebanese presidential file said that France will likely discuss the thorny issue with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his visit to the French capital slated for January 28, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Sunday.

“Paris will raise the subject of the Lebanese presidency with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his visit to France in January, without showing that it is posing a requirement on Iran so that the Iranian side does not raise the price,” the daily said quoting French sources.

Ministers of the Kataeb party and former President Michel Suleiman refuse to give the privilege of naming the two Christian figures for the appointment of military council to MP Michel Aoun, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Sunday.

“Two parties in the cabinet, the Kataeb and ministers of President Michel Suleiman, refuse that MP Aoun names the Christian members for the military council appointments. They want to suggest one of the candidates leaving naming the other to Aoun,” ministerial sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.

Islamist inmates in Roumieh prison went on a hunger strike on Friday in protest at the release of ex-Minister Michel Samaha, in what seems to be a call for their own release under pretext that they have served their sentence.

“The Islamic inmates from Tripoli began a hunger strike in protest at the release of Samaha,” said inmate Ziad Allouki in an audio recording, according to LBCI.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea criticized on Thursday a court's decision to release ex-Minister Michel Samaha from custody stating that it is “rejected by all means.”

“Although I am not an expert on law, I know that releasing Samaha is rejected by all means,” said Geagea in a Tweet.

The Military General Prosecution agreed on Thursday to release former Minister Michel Samaha on bail.

He will be released from detention on bail of 150 million Lebanese pounds.

Speaker Nabih Berri seems to be a non-supporter of a plan to export Lebanon's waste as he stressed on Thursday that the trash should be dumped in the coastal area of Costa Brava and Srar in Akkar, al-Joumhouria daily reported.

Berri said that the trash generated from the southern suburbs of Beirut should be taken to the Costa Brava landfill and that of Beirut to Srar, the daily added.

Lebanon's foreign ministry announced Wednesday evening that the kidnap of two Lebanese men in Libya is not related to Hannibal Gadhafi's arrest in Lebanon but rather to a “financial dispute.”

“Lebanese citizens Mohammed Mustafa Nazha and Khaled Mustafa Nazha were abducted in Benghazi around a month ago over a financial dispute between them and their partners in the carpentry business,” the ministry quoted Lebanon's ambassador to Libya Mohammed Skaineh as saying.

After taking in more than a million Syrian refugees, Lebanon has quietly changed course in recent months, forcing refugees to return to Syria — where they are at risk of persecution or death — or stay illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, human rights groups say.

The situation is drawing attention at a time when Turkey and Jordan have also tightened their admission policies. A Human Rights Watch report published Tuesday warned that Lebanon's new regulations have "set the stage for a potentially explosive situation."

Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that Lebanese residency laws are putting Syrian refugees in danger, arguing that the policies "set the stage for a potentially explosive situation."

The regulations, adopted a year ago, have forced refugees to either return to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution, torture or death, or to stay in Lebanon illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, the rights group said in a report.