U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said that he had been informed that a search is underway for the four suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case.

In an interview with al-Hurra TV, Feltman said that the search for the four Hizbullah members against whom arrest warrants were issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was “the responsibility of the Lebanese government.”

A U.S. Congress panel on Thursday rejected a proposal to cut off all aid to Pakistan due to concerns over the country's relationship with Islamic militants after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee easily rejected the measure, with five lawmakers voting yes and 39 voting no. But the bill in its current form would still impose tighter controls over aid, making it contingent on measurable progress by Pakistan.

Israel will not "take responsibility" for the deaths of nine Turkish nationals by apologizing to Ankara over its botched 2010 raid on a ferry heading for Gaza, a senior cabinet minister said Thursday.

"We are not ready to apologize as apologizing is taking responsibility," Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters in Jerusalem.

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Commander Major General Alberto Asarta revealed that he suggested that the international force act as a mediator between Lebanon and Israel in demarcating the maritime border.

He told Al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published on Thursday that he hopes that this issue will be resolved during his tenure and that efforts would be made to completely designate the Blue Line as well.

Israel is willing to hold peace talks with the Palestinians immediately, in Jerusalem or even Ramallah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in excerpts of an interview released on Wednesday.

Speaking to Arabic-language television station al-Arabiya, Netanyahu also denied that Israel wanted to see Syrian President Bashar Assad remain in power, and acknowledged that he had held secret peace talks with Damascus in the past.

The Israeli air force carried out a raid on the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in retaliation for Palestinian rocket attacks, a military spokeswoman said.

Warplanes attacked "a target situated in the north of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for rockets fired in the past few days against Israeli territory", she told Agence France Presse.

Turkey's prime minister said on Tuesday he was considering visiting the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, a move likely to anger Israel amid diplomatic efforts to overcome already strained bilateral ties.

"If the conditions allow, I'm thinking of visiting Gaza," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters. "The foreign ministry will be working on it. I wish to make such a visit, depending on the outcome."

France called Tuesday for Israel to act responsibly towards pro-Palestinian activists aboard a French yacht boarded by Israeli troops as it tried to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

"We've told the Israeli authorities over the last few days that if this French boat tried to break the blockade and if the Israeli authorities decided to stop it, we expect them to act with responsibility and moderation, respecting all our citizens' rights and allowing their prompt return to France," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told journalists.

Israel will probably soon apologize to Turkey for a 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla which left nine Turkish activists dead, a senior Turkish diplomat said Tuesday.

"I would be surprised if there were no apologies since both sides have the political will to resolve this crisis," said ambassador Ozdem Sanberk, a member of the U.N. panel probing the Israeli raid.

Israel on Tuesday intercepted a French yacht heading for the Gaza Strip in defiance of its naval blockade, and began towing it to shore after what the military said was an uneventful takeover.

An army spokeswoman confirmed the interception of the MV Dignite/al-Karama had been conducted without violence and that the boat was being towed to the southern Israeli port of Ashdod.