The Director for United Nations and Other International Organizations in the French Foreign Ministry Nicolas de Riviere is expected to arrive in Lebanon on Monday to hold talks with Lebanese officials on the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Saturday.

French Foreign Ministry circles told the newspaper that the French diplomat will inform Lebanese officials of France’s intention to lower the number of French troops participating in the international force.

Hizbullah International Relations official Ammar Moussawi stressed on Friday that any instability in the South affects the party more than any other in Lebanon, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Saturday.

He condemned, after holding talks with French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton, the latest attack against the French unit in the United Nations interim Force in Lebanon, saying that the party places great importance on the security of the South.

The Mustaqbal Movement is still studying proposals over the parliamentary electoral law, including the adoption of proportional representation, but it has not taken a clear stand on the issue “because it is not a pressing matter.”

A source from the Mustaqbal bloc told al-Liwaa in remarks published on Saturday that the opposition has taken a conscious decision not to support or veto any position at the time being.

President Michel Suleiman criticized on Friday the labeling of constitutional institutions with sectarian descriptions, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

He said, according to his visitors: “I will not take sides in any sectarian dispute in Lebanon.”

A Syrian farmer was killed on Friday when a landmine exploded as he was driving his truck across an illegal border crossing into Lebanon, a medical source said.

"The man was transferred to a hospital in Akkar in critical condition and he died shortly thereafter of his wounds," the source said, referring to a district in northern Lebanon where several wounded refugees have received medical care.

The United States on Friday handed its last prisoner in Iraq, a Hizbullah operative accused of plotting the killing of five U.S. soldiers, to Iraqi authorities, sparking a political furor in Washington.

A complicated legal drama surrounded the fate of Ali Mousa Daqdouq, who confessed to training Iraqi extremists in Iran, as U.S. troops end their mission and prepare to finally leave Iraq by the end of the month.

A member of Speaker Nabih Berri’s AMAL Movement was wounded on Friday when a personal dispute erupted into gunfire in the Beirut district of Zaidaniyeh.

“One AMAL member was wounded in the Zaidaniyeh clash and AMAL gunmen have left the area after a brief deployment,” an AMAL official told Naharnet, requesting anonymity.

More than 4,500 Syrians fleeing a deadly crackdown on a revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have found shelter in Lebanon, with hundreds crossing the border in the last two weeks, the United Nations said Friday.

A report released by the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said 4,510 Syrians, including women and children, had registered in northern Lebanon, up from 3,798 at the beginning of December.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi met Friday in Bkirki with Hizbullah politburo member Ghaleb Abu Zainab, who passed on Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s season’s greetings to the patriarch, state-run National News Agency reported.

The agency did not elaborate on the topics discussed during the meeting.

The Maronite leaders were unanimous on Friday in agreeing on the Orthodox meeting proposals regarding the parliamentary electoral law, while stressing the need to hold dialogue with the rest of the Lebanese factions on the matter.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi headed the meeting at Bkirki between Phalange Party chief Amin Gemayel, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, the head of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea, and Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh.