The Special Tribunal for Lebanon announced through Twitter on Wednesday that the Prosecution has until December 16 to present a progress report on Lebanon’s efforts to arrest the four accused in being involved in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

It reiterated the Prosecution’s call on Lebanon, during the November 11 hearing, for it to “intensify efforts to arrest the accused.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Wednesday that Lebanon abides by international law and is committed to its cooperation with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in order to bolster security and stability.

He said after holding talks with UNIFIL Commander Major General Alberto Asarta: “The recent attack against the French unit in UNIFIL is aimed at harming Lebanese-French ties.”

Two Lebanese shepherds were injured on Wednesday in a Syrian cross-border fire in the eastern town of Arsal, Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) reported.

It said Mohammed and Khaled Fliti were attending their herds in the area of Kherbet Daoud when they received gunshot wounds from across the border.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee is going on with its strike set on Thursday as discussions with Prime Minister Najib Miqati and his envoy failed to avert its decision.

Head of the private schools teachers association Nehme Mahfoud told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) on Wednesday that the Syndicate regrets “the time spent discussing the cabinet’s approval of the wage hike with Miqati and his envoy.”

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has no information about any decision by the countries that have contingents serving with the peacekeeping mission to downsize their troops, a UNIFIL spokesman, Andrea Tenenti, said.

“There is no information about any changes,” Tenenti told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Wednesday.

Phalange lawmaker Sami Gemayel and Hizbullah MP Nawwaf Moussawi clashed in parliament on Wednesday when the issue of the Shiite group’s attempt to expand its telecommunications network was discussed.

During a Question and Answer session, the second since the formation of the cabinet, Gemayel criticized Hizbullah over its “illegal excavation and installation works in the town of Tarshish.”

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Commander Major General Alberto Asarta expressed frustration over the unstable security situation in the South, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

“After I have praised for a year and a half the ideal security situation in the South, saying that that this region is the most stable,” the situation deteriorated, the daily quoted Asarta as telling Speaker Nabih Berri during a meeting at Ain el-Tineh on Tuesday.

A meeting was held lately between Ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Jebran Bassil, and the aide of the Hizbullah chief, Hussein Khalil, to set the stage for talks between leaders of the March 8 coalition, media reports said Wednesday.

An Nahar newspaper said the meeting was aimed at containing the rift between them after the Hizbullah ministers voted at a cabinet session last week in favor of a proposal made by Premier Najib Miqati rather than supporting a decree on the increase in wages suggested by Minister Charbel Nahhas, who is their ally.

A Lebanese national who U.S. authorities say is the ringleader of a vast international drug smuggling ring with links to Hizbullah has been indicted on drug and money laundering charges after allegedly reaping more than $850 million in illicit profits.

The indictment was announced Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria against Ayman Joumaa, who is currently at large. It alleges he led a conspiracy that, among other activities, sold nearly 100 tons of Colombian cocaine to the Zetas drug cartel in Mexico between 2005 and 2007 that was ultimately smuggled into the United States. The conspiracy has run since at least 2004 and at times brought in as much as $200 million in a single month, according to court documents.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim Robert Watkins said Tuesday he agreed with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi during talks in Bkirki on “the importance of asserting state authority throughout all of Lebanon’s territory and of taking measures to safeguard the stability and security of the country.”

“In this regard, I briefed the Patriarch on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 and the Secretary-General’s recent report. We are naturally disconcerted by the rising number of incidents, two rocket firing incidents in the period of two weeks and yet another attack on UNIFIL troops, which the Secretary-General and the Security Council have condemned in the strongest terms,” Watkins added.