Lebanon received on Monday the first shipment of $3 billion worth of French arms under a Saudi-financed deal to boost the country's defensive capabilities to combat terror threats, along its northeastern border in particular.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who arrived in Lebanon on Sunday night and was welcomed by his Lebanese counterpart Samir Moqbel at Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport, reaffirmed in a brief speech the importance of preserving stability of Lebanon, pointing out that the army is paying the price of pressure enforced by terror groups

Maronite bishop Samir Mazloum expressed regret on Monday over the verbal spat between political arch-foes over the situation in Yemen, hoping that dialogue would defuse tension and preserve the cabinet.

“As long as there is a will to continue talks, then there is hope that we could reach progress,” Mazloum said in comments published in the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Seyassah.

The elderly founder of France's far-right National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has been discharged from hospital after a short stint for a heart problem, a source close to the former party leader said Sunday.

The source said Le Pen was at home, without specifying when exactly he had been discharged after his hospitalization on Thursday just days after a bitter public spat with his daughter Marine who now heads the FN.

French President Francois Hollande said Sunday that negotiations with Moscow were under way to find a solution to a dispute over the sale of two Mistral warships, frozen over the Ukraine crisis.

"We are busy negotiating a solution to the crisis," over the 1.2 billion euro ($1.5 billion) sale, Hollande said on French television.

The first French weapons from a $3 billion Saudi-funded program will arrive in Lebanon on Monday as allies seek to bolster the country's defenses against the Islamic State group and other jihadists pressing along its Syrian border.

Anti-tank guided missiles are set to arrive at an air force base in Beirut, overseen by French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Lebanese counterpart, Samir Moqbel.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Friday that Europeans seek "stability over the long term" with the euro "at its current level."

"If we would like to, or we would let known that we would like to, let the euro's value fall further, we would enter a dangerous zone," he said.

French President Francois Hollande will discuss the Ukraine crisis with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a visit to Armenia on April 24, a source in his office said Friday.

Putin and Hollande are attending a ceremony in Yerevan marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

The granddaughter of France's historic far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen was officially named on Friday as his replacement in regional elections, following a bitter family feud within the National Front party he founded. 

Marion Marechal Le Pen, 25, will stand in the southeastern seat that had been ear-marked for her 86-year-old grandfather.

France's prime minister announced Friday the government would pour 100 million euros into a major anti-racism and anti-Semitism action plan devised in the aftermath of the deadly Paris jihadist attacks.

The program, which among other measures increases penalties for crimes deemed to have been fueled by racism and anti-Semitism, comes at a time when acts against Muslims and Jews have shot up in France.

Grieving relatives joined political and religious leaders Friday at a sombre German memorial service for the victims of last month's Germanwings crash in the French Alps, blamed on a depressed co-pilot.

Flags flew at half-mast nationwide for the 150 dead during the ecumenical service at Cologne's historic cathedral attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck along with ministers from France and Spain.