Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat refrained on Monday from making his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website “in anticipation of a possible military strike against Syria.”

He hoped in a statement that the “security and chemical repercussions of the strike will not reach Lebanon, despite the rising possibilities of the Syrian regime's intention to link Lebanon to this ever-escalating crisis.”

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour defended the Syrian regime on Monday and called on all Arab states to unite their stances and reject a U.S.-led military strike against Syria, the state-run National News Agency reported.

“All Arab countries must take a unified stance to confront an aggression against Syria because the repercussions will reflect on the entire region,” NNA quoted Mansour as saying.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea ruled out the possibility that Hizbullah and Iran would retaliate to a U.S.-led strike against Syria, reported As Safir newspaper on Monday.

He told the daily: “I assume that Hizbullah and Iran are wise enough to avoid slipping into a large-scale war.”

French President Francois Hollande stressed his country's keenness on Lebanon's stability and the importance of adhering to the Baabda Declaration, reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

He added that the Lebanese people should avoid “reactions that may lead their country towards situations that do not benefit Lebanon.”

One person was killed and five others were wounded Sunday in an armed clash between members of Hizbullah and Palestinian young men near the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut's southern suburbs.

State-run National News Agency identified the dead man as Palestinian national Mohammed al-Simrawi, saying the gunfight erupted when a number of Palestinians in a wedding convoy refused that their cars be searched by a Hizbullah checkpoint.

A bomb ripped through a car moments after it was parked by its owner in Tripoli's al-Qobbeh area on Sunday, state-run National News Agency reported.

“The blast targeted the Jeep of Sheikh Saadeddine Ghiyyeh, leaving him lightly wounded,” NNA said.

Caretaker Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil on Sunday warned that the rebel assault on the Syrian Christian town of Maalula was a “serious signal that the plot to displace Christians from the Levant has started.”

“The West's stance can be best summed up by what former French president Nicolas Sarkozy had told (Maronite) Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in 2011, when he said that Christians have no place in the Levant, especially in Lebanon and Syria, and by what we heard from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry two days ago when he said that there is no need to protect minorities,” Bassil said at a press conference he held at his Batroun residence.

A Syrian national was arrested on Saturday on charges of attempting to prepare explosives, reported the National News Agency on Sunday.

It said that the General Security arrested Ahmed Osama al-Toumani near the vegetable market in the Nahr Ibrahim region.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stressed on Sunday that the army guarantees Lebanon's security and sovereignty, while condemning the spread of arms outside the state's authority.

He said during his Sunday sermon: “The illegitimate weapons pose a threat to the army and other security agencies in Lebanon.”

Spokesman of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Andrea Tenenti noted that the implementation of U.N. Security Council 1701 will be halted should the situation in the region escalate, reported al-Mustaqbal daily on Sunday.

He added to the daily that UNIFIL will not leave the South should the situation escalate.