Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov condemned on Monday the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan on October 19 in Beirut's district of Ashrafiyeh.

Addressing claims that Bulgarian explosives were used in the blast, he said: “We condemn some sides' attempts to drag Bulgaria's name in the matter.”

French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli paid respect to slain Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan on Monday by laying a wreath at his grave upon the request of President Francois Hollande.

Hollande's visit to Beirut on Sunday was aimed at “expressing solidarity with Lebanon and honoring a great Lebanese, a man who devoted his life to his nation, to search for the truth and protect all the Lebanese,” Paoli said after he laid the wreath at al-Hasan's tomb at al-Amin mosque in downtown Beirut.

The head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora stated on Monday that the current government “is causing a problem in Lebanon that needs to be tackled.”

He reiterated after holding talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi the need for the formation of a new government, stressing: “The constitution stipulates that there can be no power vacuum in Lebanon.”

A Lebanese man was killed after a shell hit a Syrian town that borders the Hermel district in Lebanon's northeast, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

Bassel Ahmed al-Haq, 22, died on Sunday night when the shell hit an area near his parents' house in the Syrian town of al-Sefsaf that borders the Lebanese village of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali in Hermel.

France and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement to indefinitely exclude Prime Minister Najib Miqati from the Lebanese premiership if a new government is formed, diplomatic sources said Monday.

The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the deal was reached between French President Francois Hollande and Saudi King Abdullah during talks in Jeddah attended by former Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri, who is the head of the opposition al-Mustaqbal movement.

President Michel Suleiman is planning to travel to Rome on November 24 to attend the ceremony that would officially appoint Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi as a new cardinal in the Catholic church, As Safir daily reported on Monday.

The newspaper also said that Suleiman could meet with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the Vatican.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said French President Francois Hollande's meeting with President Michel Suleiman during his visit to Beirut reflected a French stance that Paris rejects to deal with the current cabinet.

In an interview with al-Joumhouria daily on Monday, Geagea stressed that avoiding any meeting with the cabinet members will gradually lead to isolating the government, and only then will the officials become convinced that their cabinet is impossible to remain.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stressed Monday that a planned visit by Lebanese Premier Najib Miqati hasn't been cancelled after reports that the trip was being reconsidered over French President Francois Hollande's “sudden” visit to Beirut.

“Miqati's visit to France is still on,” Fabius told An Nahar newspaper. “It's true that we didn't discuss it today (Sunday) but nothing has changed in the date at the end of this month.”

Independence Movement leader Michel Mouawad on Sunday warned that “there is an attempt in Lebanon to replace the Syrian hegemony with an Iranian hegemony,” urging Lebanese expatriates in Australia to vote heavily in the 2013 parliamentary elections.

“Although the threat of the Syrian regime has not ended, it cannot change the equation in Lebanon anymore,” Mouawad said during a meeting with members of the Lebanese community in Australia.

Dozens of protesters from the youth organizations of the March 14 forces on Sunday staged a sit-in outside the Grand Serail at the Riad al-Solh square in downtown Beirut, demanding the departure of the government and stressing that they will press on with their “confrontation.”

In a symbolic gesture, demonstrators assembled a giant-sized puzzle with the flag of the Independence Uprising on one side and the picture of slain Intelligence Bureau chief Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan on the other.