The Israeli Army Artillery Corps has said it introduced major improvements to the advanced Tammuz missile, describing the new version as “a strategic surprise and deterrence force against the enemy in any coming war.”

The artillery corps described the improved missile, whose older type was used in the July 2006 war against Hizbullah, as the “most advanced and accurate in the world.”

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned Tuesday “the provocation practiced by the Israeli occupation forces on Lebanon’s southern border yesterday and the incursion attempt that prompted the Lebanese army to confront it bravely and send a clear message to the enemy that the border is protected, safeguarded and monitored.”

The bloc also called on the Lebanese army to “remain vigilant in order to deter and confront any aggression.”

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini stated that the situation in Syria may have dangerous repercussions on Lebanon, stressing that Lebanon needs stability now more than ever in order to meet its people’s needs.

He hoped in an interview to Sada al-Balad newspaper to be published on Wednesday that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would be able to continue its work effectively and with the cooperation of all concerned sides.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun noted on Tuesday that Lebanon enjoys a deterrent power, embodied in the equation of the army, people, and Resistance, capable of defending the country against an Israeli attack.

He said after the weekly Change and Reform bloc meeting: “This equation won’t end until the Arab-Israeli conflict is resolved, which is very difficult under the current Israeli and American policies.”

The Vice President of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Abdul Amir Qabalan telephoned on Tuesday Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to discuss the land dispute at the town of Lassa and the nearby areas and ways to end the problem.

On Sunday, three vehicles with tinted car windows forced a police patrol from turning back after trying to end construction work in Lassa in the Jbeil district, An Nahar daily reported Monday.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati expressed fear on Tuesday over the ongoing Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty, urging the United Nations to demand Israel to implement Security Council resolution 1701.

Miqati stressed after meeting with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams that Lebanon will defend its rights and protect its sovereignty with all the available means.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Michael Williams, voiced on Tuesday his concern over the July 26 attack against French soldiers in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, revealing that it “generated very considerable concern in France and all the troop contributing countries.”

He said after holding talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati: “It is imperative that the Lebanese government take concrete and firm action on this.”

A unit from the Drug Enforcement Bureau seized 53 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated $8 Million from two vehicles driven by foreigners in the coastal town of Kaslik, the National News Agency reported Tuesday.

NNA said that the unit seized the drugs from a Range Rover and a Mercedes. Two of its occupants were Palestinians and the other two were Irish and Dutch.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has invited Lebanon’s top Maronite leaders to Bkirki on August 25 for talks on the new electoral law, An Nahar daily reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that the expected event would be the second meeting between Phalange leader Amin Gemayel, Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Marada movement head Suleiman Franjieh since the talks they held in Bkirki in April.

A Lebanese waiter and a Filipina saleswoman have been accused of public intimacy after police caught them having consensual sex on a public beach in Dubai, Gulf News reported on Tuesday.

“Prosecutors charged the 21-year-old waiter, A.B., and his 30-year-old Filipina girlfriend, M.B., with having out-of-wedlock sex in a public place and committing an indecent act in public,” said the English-language daily.