Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said that Syrian President Bashar Assad has lost his legitimacy and the fall of his regime would deal a blow to Iran and Hizbullah.

In an interview with French daily Le Figaro over the weekend, Barak said: “If Assad falls, this would deal a severe blow to Iran and Hizbullah, a significant weakening of the Shiite arc.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said that only national dialogue among the country’s political factions would prevent the country from “sliding into strife.”

In remarks to As Safir daily on Monday, Jumblat said: “After the drafting of the cabinet policy statement we should return to the national dialogue table which alone could protect us from the slide into strife and turmoil.”

Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas on Sunday hit back at the head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, former premier Fouad Saniora, over the latter’s remarks in which he wondered whether Prime Minister Najib Miqati was designated as a premier to “eradicate” ex-PM Rafik Hariri’s legacy.

“I regret that these remarks were voiced by ex-PM Saniora, who knows PM Miqati quite well,” Nahhas, who is close to Miqati, said.

A rocket-propelled grenade hit the main street in the al-Baqqar neighborhood in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday, two days after clashes over an anti-Syria rally killed seven people, state-run National News Agency reported, without elaborating.

But MTV said the grenade caused no casualties when it struck the neighborhood.

Head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, former premier Fouad Saniora, on Sunday snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over the latter’s recent remarks against ex-PM Saad Hariri and “the policies of ex-PM Rafik Hariri.”

“We have recently heard remarks full of spite, malice and tension, such as those voiced by someone who said he had given (ex-)PM Saad Hariri a ‘one-way ticket,”’ Saniora said of Aoun, without naming him.

Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan remained mum on Sunday on whether he would grant his vote of confidence to the new cabinet after he resigned from the government the day it was formed.

Arslan is considering the nomination of his brother-in-law Marwan Kheireddine to replace him as minister of state. The MP resigned last Monday hours after the cabinet was announced, accusing Premier Najib Miqati of discriminating against the Druze community and other minority groups.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel vowed on Sunday to prevent the Internal Security Forces from entering the political game and said he would hold them accountable if they made mistakes.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5), Charbel said he won’t allow any side to shove politics into security agencies because politics had ruined them.

Hizbullah has uncovered spies within the ranks of the party’s leadership, creating a shock to both the Shiite party and Israel, the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai reported Sunday.

The newspaper said that the discovery was made around three months ago when Hizbullah intentionally sent “fateful information” to Israelis and put the suspects under tight surveillance.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Sunday that he gave his blessing to the new cabinet when President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati signed the decrees of its formation.

Before heading to the Vatican, al-Rahi said the government should meet the expectations of the Lebanese and its top priority should be to restore trust and unity among the people.

Sources close to Premier Najib Miqati have accused the March 14 forces of truncating his remarks on the incidents in the northern port city of Tripoli to create tension.

In remarks to al-Mustaqbal newspaper published Sunday, the sources expressed surprise at “not taking Miqati’s statement seriously in an attempt to fabricate a new source of political differences.”