Head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad blamed a "Western-Israeli alliance" and regional powers that back radical Sunni Islamist "takfiri" groups for Tuesday's deadly suicide bombings near the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

The mid-morning blasts ripped through a stronghold of Hizbullah, where the Iranian embassy is located, killing 23 people and wounding 146.

Syria has strongly condemned a double bomb blast outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday that killed at least 23 people, official media reported.

"The Syrian government firmly condemns the terrorist attack carried out near the Iranian embassy in Beirut," state television said.

Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Rokn Abadi confirmed the death of Iranian cultural adviser Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ansari in the twin blasts near the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday.

He told al-Manar television that al-Ansari died from wounds he sustained in the attack.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat called on Monday for preserving the cultural heritage of Beirut, noting also that the price for destruction in the Arab world is very high.

"If reports saying that the plan to demolish the Massad Stairs (in the Beirut neighborhood of Mar Mikhael) has been canceled, then this is good news for Beirut's heritage that is gradually getting extinct,” Jumblat said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website.

Four people were wounded on Friday evening in an individual armed clash in Beirut's Aisha Bakkar neighborhood, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The NNA said the wounded men were transferred to Al-Maqassed Hospital for treatment.

A number of suspects were charged on Monday in the case of firing rockets at Baabda and Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahieh.

Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawwan charged 17 arrested suspects in the case.

Several residents of the Beirut neighborhood of Wata el-Msaytbeh blocked the road, burning tires and trash bins, to prevent Internal Security Forces from quelling illegal construction in the area.

According to the state-run National News Agency, the residents of al-Tannak neighborhood blocked the road and plumes of black smoke engulfed the area.

Beirut ranked 20 in the list of the world's top tourist destinations, the Ministry of Tourism announced on Thursday.

"Beirut came before Paris, Melbourne, Venice and Barcelona on the list of tourism magazine Conde Nast Traveler,” the ministry said in a released statement, noting that the magazine's annual list is based on “its readers' choices.”

A wanted suspect was killed on Sunday during a shootout with an Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau patrol in Beirut.

LBCI television said that the shootout broke out between the patrol and two suspects wants on charges of theft.

A chemical weapons disarmament team arrived in Damascus on Tuesday to begin evaluating the country's arsenal of the banned weapons, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

The 20-member team traveled to Syria to begin an inspection mission before the arms are turned over for destruction under U.N. Security Council resolution 2118 adopted last week.