Pope Francis expressed readiness to visit Lebanon during a trip planned to the Holly Land, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Monday.

According to the daily, contacts are ongoing with the Vatican to convince the pontiff to make a brief visit to Beirut during his first trip to the Holy Land, visiting Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem in May.

Several prominent March 14 politicians and media figures, who oppose Syria's regime and its ally Hizbullah, have been threatened, the state-run National News Agency reported on Sunday.

The report comes less than a fortnight after a car bombing in central Beirut killed eight people including anti-Syria former finance minister and member of the March 14 coalition Mohammed Shatah.

A top Hizbullah official on Sunday warned that the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are "present in Lebanon," noting that the best response to the bombings that are hitting Lebanon is the "speedy formation of a national unity cabinet."

“Ever since we went to Syria to confront the takfiri terrorism, we have managed to rein in the crimes of these takfiri terrorists,” Hizbullah Executive Council deputy head Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said during a memorial service in the South for Malak Zahwi and Iman Hijazi, who were killed in the Haret Hreik bomb attack.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut on Sunday again warned U.S. citizens not to travel to Lebanon, urging those already in the country to avoid hotels, shopping centers and public events.

“Following recent bombings in Beirut and other instances of violence that have occurred in Lebanon in recent months, the U.S. government strongly urges U.S. citizens in Lebanon to exercise extreme caution and to avoid hotels, western-style shopping centers, including western-style grocery chain stores, and any public or social events where U.S. citizens normally congregate,” said a security message issued by the U.S. State Department and published on the embassy's website.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi reiterated on Sunday that rival officials should engage in dialogue to confront the security dangers and political crises gripping the country.

He said in his Sunday sermon during mass he held in Bkirki that he “prayed for stability in Lebanon, which on the second day of New Year fell in grief over the Haret Hreik bombing.”

An Ethiopian passenger was arrested at Rafik Hariri International Airport on Sunday for trying to smuggle drugs to Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said the airport customs found nine kilograms of khat, a traditional herbal stimulant drug, in the Ethiopian woman's suitcase.

The Lebanese army consolidated its presence in the eastern village of al-Souairi on Sunday after a man, who was injured in clashes with a rival family last month, succumbed to his wounds.

The state-run National News Agency said the army's measures in and around the West Bekaa village were aimed at confronting any possible renewal of fighting after Faraj Jinbeen's death on Sunday morning.

One person was killed and four people were injured in clashes between the districts of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in the northern city of Tripoli, the state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.

NNA said Ali Abdul Qader Suweid was killed at noon Sunday from sniper fire in Bab al-Tabbaneh.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has backed off from his support for a so-called neutral government over fears that further divisions among the rival parties could affect the presidential elections, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat quoted sources as saying.

The March 8 alliance has been calling for a government in which it would get nine ministers along with March 14 and centrists six.

Premier-designate Tammam Salam has agreed to give the cabinet formation efforts more time after warnings by Speaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat against the formation of a fait accompli government, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Sunday.

“We waited for nine months to reach a solution and consensus that would steer the country away from divisions on the cabinet but nothing came up from the procrastination,” the newspaper quoted Salam as saying.