An al-Qaida-inspired group has denied claiming responsibility for a recent rocket attack from southern Lebanon against Israel, instead blaming a group linked to Hizbullah, a U.S. monitoring group said Monday.

In a statement issued on jihadist forums, the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam said the November 29 attack should be seen as a warning to the West and Israel from embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

The Registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Herman von Hebel, will be answering questions from Lebanese citizens and the general public on Wednesday, December 7 from 3 to 5 pm Beirut Time, announced the STL in a statement.

Questions directed to the Registrar should contain the hashtag #STLRegistrar, it explained.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim Robert Watkins stressed on Monday the importance of maintaining peace and stability in Lebanon at this time of dramatic changes in the region.

He said after holding talks with Speaker Nabih Berri at Ain al-Tineh: “In that regard, I very much welcomed the role that the speaker played last week in finding a solution to the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. His role was very much appreciated by the United Nations.”

French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton revealed on Monday that Prime Minister Najib Miqati had received an official invitation from his French counterpart, Francois Fillon, to visit France.

He said after meeting the premier that President Nicolas Sarkozy would be happy to meet Miqati to congratulate him on the decision to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil condemned on Monday the shutdown of the Zahrani power plant, describing it as an attack against state institutions.

He said during a press conference: “We will not remain silent over the incident.”

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry filed on Monday a complaint with the United Nations against Israel for shelling southern Lebanon in November.

The ministry accused Israel of violating Lebanon’s sovereignty and U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

As Syria staggers under unprecedented Arab and global sanctions, Lebanon and Iraq are poised to provide economic corridors for their crisis-hit neighbor without explicitly breaching the restrictions, experts say.

"Lebanon and Iraq could turn into Syria's lungs, as it were, allowing it to breathe under the sanctions," said Lahcen Achy, economic analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center.

The controversial false witnesses issue in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination emerged to the surface again after PM Najib Miqati announced paying Lebanon’s dues to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

“It’s still too early to decide on the issue,” Miqati’s visitors told An Nahar newspaper on Monday.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon is set to visit Beirut in January as part of his tour to the region - his third trip to Lebanon, a source in New York told An Nahar newspaper.

Contacts are underway between Lebanese authorities and the U.N. Secretariat to set the date for his visit either on the first or the second week of January, the sources said.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen is expected to issue an indictment in the assassination attempt of MP Marwan Hamadeh this month, informed sources said.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Monday that the indictment will be issued before Christmas.