Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour condemned on Monday the clash that broke out this morning between the Lebanese and Israeli armies at Wazzani in the South, saying that it is part of Israel’s ongoing violations of Lebanon have been taking place since 2006.

He added: “We will make the necessary contacts to the concerned sides and inform our mission to the United Nations to address the matter at the international organization.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Monday that the Israeli army had the right to defend itself during the border clash with Lebanon at Wazzani earlier on Monday, reported the Jerusalem Post.

He told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: "The soldiers behaved like they were supposed to.”

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) spokesman Neeraj Singh confirmed on Monday the clashes that occurred in the Wazzani area between the Israeli and Lebanese armies.

"We can confirm that at around 7:00 am this morning there was a brief exchange of fire between the Lebanese army and the Israeli army along the Blue Line in the general area of Wazzani," he said.

The Lebanese and Israeli armies exchanged fire in the area of Mountazahat in Wazzani on Monday morning after a Jewish state patrol crossed the U.N.-drawn Blue Line, the Lebanese military said.

Both sides reported no casualties but each blamed the other for the clash.

Egypt turned back 450 travelers seeking to cross at the Rafah border point after an attack on a Sinai police station, Hamas officials said on Sunday.

The Hamas-run interior ministry said that the 450 would-be travelers, some of them patients seeking medical treatment, were turned back at the border on Saturday.

Head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Defense Office Francois Roux stated that nothing is off limits in defending suspects in the trial of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, saying that their lawyers can bring up any matter related to the case, especially regarding the legitimacy of the court and the prosecutor’s evidence.

He noted however to the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper in remarks published on Sunday that the transparency of the court should not be questioned at the moment because it hasn’t conducted its judicial work yet.

Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in 10 cities across the country on Saturday evening to protest against the high cost of living, Agence France Presse correspondents reported.

More than 30,000 demonstrated in downtown Tel Aviv as thousands more marched in Jerusalem, in the northern city of Haifa and in Nazareth.

Austria said Saturday it could send peacekeeping troops to Lebanon by the end of the year, as part of the UNIFIL mission here, following a request by New York.

"The (Austrian) army has built up expertise and experience in the region. A second pillar in the Middle East, on top of the Golan mission, is definitely conceivable," Defense Minister Norbert Darabos said in a statement.

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon discussed the impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and the situation in the West Bank and Gaza, in Lebanon and the region, said a U.N. spokesman.

"The secretary general urged an early resumption of meaningful Israeli-Palestinian negotiations," Spokesman Martin Nesirky said Friday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea accused on Friday Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of abusing power, slamming his recent speech in which he declared that the party will exploit the gas and oil wealth of any side that exploit’s Lebanon’s.

He said during a press conference on Lebanon’s offshore wealth: “We cannot remain silent over such a dangerous announcement.”