British euroskeptic leader Nigel Farage on Thursday accused the EU of having "blood on its hands" by backing uprisings in Ukraine and Syria.

The UK Independence Party chief faced criticism in Britain for his comments, with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg saying Farage was siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary called on Thursday to end the security chaos across the country by the implementation of a comprehensive plan, in particular in the northern city of Tripoli and along the border with Syria.

“Tension in the towns of Arsal, Akkar and Tripoli shouldn’t be left for lawlessness,” MP Ziad al-Qadri said after the lawmakers' weekly meeting at the Center House.

Five people were injured on Thursday when Syrian warplanes raided the mountains surrounding the northeastern border town of Arsal, the state-run National News Agency said.

The sounds of explosions were heard in areas far from the region, NNA said.

The cabinet approved on Thursday a security plan for the northern city of Tripoli and areas bordering Syria as President Michel Suleiman said a solution to the fighting and repeated attacks was urgently needed.

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour told reporters that the cabinet approved the recommendations of the Higher Defense Council on a security plan in Tripoli and Bekaa valley's northern areas.

Italy's navy said Thursday it had rescued 128 migrants from Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Syria from a boat crossing the Mediterranean which got into difficulty off the coast of Sicily.

The migrants, including eight women and 13 minors, were spotted by a helicopter patrolling the seas off Italy on Wednesday as part of an operation launched after two October shipwrecks in which hundreds drowned.

The United Nations Security Council held a meeting to discuss the implementation of resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah and the upcoming presidential elections in Lebanon.

The meeting, which was held in the form of closed-door consultations, stressed the need to stage the upcoming presidential elections, An Nahar newspaper reported on Thursday.

Iraq's health ministry said Wednesday it had found its first suspected polio case in 14 years, which could have originated in neighboring Syria where confirmed cases have sparked a region-wide alert.

The suspected case was found in a young boy in Bab al-Sham near Baghdad, ministry spokesman Ziad Tariq told Agence France Presse.

Barack Obama will meet Pope Francis for the first time Thursday for talks on a shared agenda to fight inequality which the U.S. President hopes will help boost support at home.

The talks between the first Latin-American pope and first African-American U.S. president will focus on tackling the gap between the rich and the poor, but are likely to spill over into thornier issues such as abortion, homosexuals and contraception.

Syria on Wednesday sharply criticized an Arab summit declaration that condemned "massacres" by its forces and reaffirmed support for the opposition National Coalition.

State news agency SANA said nothing would change "the clear decision by the Syrian state to protect its people against terrorism and to face up to it forcefully and firmly".

Turkey is ready to take any measures, including cross-border military operations into war-torn Syria, against threats to its national security, its foreign minister warned Wednesday.

"The Turkish republic is a powerful state and never hesitates to take any measures to protect its national security if need be," Ahmet Davutoglu told AFP in an exclusive interview.