A North Carolina man who has spent a decade in prison for allegedly aiding Hizbullah is trying to get his 155-year sentence cut, The Charlotte Observer reported.

Mohammed Hammoud, who was convicted in 2002 of conspiring to provide material support to a “terrorist organization” and 13 other crimes, will ask a U.S. judge at a hearing Wednesday to reduce his sentence to time served, or at least no more than 15 years.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that Hizbullah and Syria must not gain weapons supremacy over Israel, The Israeli daily Haaretz said on its website.

His remarks came during talks with Gates at the Pentagon. The two men discussed an array of security issues pertaining to the United States' support of Israel.

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir expressed surprise at threats unleashed by Hizbullah, particularly by head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc MP Mohammed Raad, without naming him.

“The country cannot carry on under this escalating climate where one (political) camp threatens the other,” Sfeir told al-Mustaqbal newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

The Phalange Party questioned on Monday “Hizbullah’s excessive escalation against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and all other Lebanese sides seeking justice.”

It warned after its weekly politburo meeting: “This escalation will endanger internal stability without even affecting the STL.”

The Hizbullah-led Opposition has stepped up it rhetoric against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, reiterating that a settlement to the crisis should precede the indictments.

Sheikh Naim Qassem believed that the STL was "dedicated to eliminate Hizbullah."

The head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammad Raad warned on Saturday that "Lebanon's image would automatically change if the indictment is released without a settlement being reached in the country."

He added: "Everyone must assume the responsibility of their actions."

If the Special Tribunal for Lebanon indicts several Hizbullah members, the Shiite group could use an escalation against Israel to divert the political storm, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote.

It said it is not clear in which direction Lebanon is heading: Is it a country on the verge of collapse? Is it heading toward a civil war? A war against Israel? Or is it just facing another political crisis that too will pass?

The U.S. Treasury Department has said it sanctioned two brothers and their business interests for allegedly doing fundraising for Hizbullah.

Ali Tajideen and Husayn Tajideen, brothers who served as business partners for the previously sanctioned Kassim Tajideen, were targeted along with their business interests in The Gambia, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, and the British Virgin Islands.

Saudi Arabia proposed setting up an Arab force to fight Hizbullah militants in Lebanon with the help of the United States, U.N. and NATO, a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable said.

In a meeting in May 2008 with U.S. ambassador to Iraq David Satterfield, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said a "security response" was needed to the "military challenge" posed to Beirut by the Iran-backed militants.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri told former U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison he feared another war with Israel would mean the "death" of his pro-Western March 14 alliance, leaked cables showed Monday.

A document reportedly obtained by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks and published on the website of local daily al-Akhbar quoted Hariri as saying he believed Hizbullah would rise again should there be another round of violence.