United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Ad Interim Robert Watkins stated on Wednesday that the U.N. is “relatively pleased” with the quiet and stability in the South.

He said after holding talks with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea: “We still feel there is a lot of progress that needs to be made towards a permanent ceasefire” by both Israel and Lebanon.

France summoned the Israeli ambassador in Paris to a meeting at the foreign ministry Wednesday to protest after an air strike wounded a French diplomat in Gaza along with his wife and daughter.

A spokesman for the ministry said that France's ambassador in Tel Aviv had complained to Israeli authorities over the bombing, and that Israel's envoy had been required to meet with senior officials in Paris.

Bulldozers flanked by Israeli troops razed four Palestinian homes near the ancient city of Jericho on Tuesday, with Israel saying they endangered a nearby archaeological site.

Ammar Fakhouri, the owner of one of the buildings, told Agence France Presse it was the third time that Israel had demolished properties he owned.

Iran's parliament on Monday approved legislation to severely increase punishment for Iranian citizens “who dare” to travel to the lands of arch-foe Israel.

Under the new law, any Iranian who visits Israel will face a jail term of two to five years, while they will also be banned from holding a passport for three to five years, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Egyptian security officials have arrested two more members of an Islamist group thought to be behind attacks on a pipeline supplying gas to Israel and Jordan, the official MENA agency reported Monday.

Abdel Karim Mohammed Ahmed and Ahmed Salem Awad of the radical Islamist al-Takfeer wal Hijra were detained during a sweep in the north Sinai town of el-Arish, a day after one of the group's leading members was held, said MENA.

Israeli air raids on the northern Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian overnight and wounded four others, doctors said Monday, after a rocket attack on Israeli territory.

The raids destroyed a security post of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and left two other Palestinians missing, they said.

Iran must review its cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog due to the hostile nature of a report on the country's atomic program, parliament speaker Ali Larijani warned on Sunday.

In an explicit warning to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Larijani said the tone of the report amounted to "hostility and a copy of orders" issued by arch-foes Israel and the U.S.

The Israeli army is conducting intense training over a possible strike against Iran, which may possibly lead to a war with Hizbullah, reported the Jerusalem Post on Saturday.

The training comes at a time when the media spotlight has focused on a possible war between Iran and the Jewish state over the former’s nuclear ambitions.

Turkey is against any military strike on Iran, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday, warning that speculation risked destabilizing the region.

"We do not think it is right even to talk of possible military intervention in the region.... We are against such intervention and believe it would create more instability," Anatolia news agency quoted Davutoglu as saying in Ankara.

Seven rights groups have demanded that an investigation be launched in allegations that suspected Israeli spy, Tareq al-Rabaa, had been subject to torture while in custody.

They said in a statement that Rabaa was tortured while he was at the Defense Ministry on July 12, 2010, where he was being held for investigation.