The cabinet has approved a draft law that would allow Lebanese expatriates to apply for the citizenship of their country of origin, a move that would help them in the future to take part in parliamentary elections.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told An Nahar daily on Tuesday that the draft law was approved with minor amendments. He said only the children of fathers and grandfathers of Lebanese origin would get the citizenship and not the children of Lebanese mothers who are married to foreigners.

Several March 8 ministers have rejected a measure by the Higher Relief Council to give Syrians, who have escaped their country, refugee cards and establish camps for 50,000 refugees, As Safir daily reported Tuesday.

During a cabinet session held at Baabda palace on Monday, the ministers expressed fears that such a move would put “political, administrative, financial, security and demographic” burdens on the Lebanese state under the pretext of humanitarian support.

Lebanon’s top Maronite leaders are expected to discuss the repercussions of the region’s upheaval on Lebanon in a meeting scheduled to be held in Bkirki on Friday, An Nahar daily reported Tuesday.

According to the newspaper, the dangerous situation in southern Lebanon would be at the top of issues to be discussed by Phalange leader Amin Gemayel, Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Marada movement’s head Suleiman Franjieh.

Israeli security sources on Monday noted that the trajectory of the rocket fired overnight from the southern town of Majdal Selem into the nearby town of Houla “indicates that it was aimed at the (northern Israeli) town of Kiryat Shmona,” warning that “Hizbullah’s continuous playing with fire may lead to a security deterioration.”

Israel’s public radio quoted the sources as saying that the incident was part of a spate of attacks “in which the Hizbullah organization has a hand, including the firing of rockets into the western Galilee two weeks ago and the targeting of the members of the French UNIFIL unit in the Tyre region last weekend.”

Hizbullah on Monday slammed as a “condemned behavior” accusations by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe who claimed Sunday that the party had a hand in the latest attack on French U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

“Juppe made blatant accusations against Syria and Hizbullah and he himself acknowledged that he had no proof to substantiate his allegations,” Hizbullah said in a statement.

The commander of U.N. troops stationed in southern Lebanon on Monday condemned an overnight attack in which a rocket apparently fired towards Israel landed in Lebanese territory, injuring a woman.

"This is the third incident involving serious security breaches south of the Litani river in a period of two weeks," UNIFIL Force Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas said in a statement.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Monday paid homage to the French U.N. peacekeepers who were wounded in a bombing last week against their patrol in southern Lebanon, saying the attack would not dampen France's commitment to the mission in Lebanon.

Speaking at a military base in the northeastern French town of Saint Dizier, Fillon said: "I want to send a thought to the five French UNIFIL peacekeepers who were injured Friday in the south of Lebanon, in an attack whose cowardice will not shake our determination."

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said Monday that the recent firing of rockets from Lebanon against Israel “may be a message addressed from our neighbors to France,” hours after the French foreign minister accused Syria of involvement in Friday’s bomb attack on French peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

At a ceremony to honor PSP veterans in al-Mukhtara, Jumblat said: “We received yesterday the message of the rockets, and this is a dangerous message which may be addressed from our neighbors to France, via the Lebanese territory and at the expense of Lebanon’s stability, the South and entire Lebanon.”

Syria on Monday denied involvement in a bombing that wounded five French U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, a day after France said Damascus was probably behind the attack.

"Syria has no link whatsoever with this act which we condemn," foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi said in a statement that also criticized French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe for pointing a finger at Damascus.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil did not deny on Sunday that he had met with Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Monday.

The meeting took place shortly after cabinet rejected Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ proposal over the wage hike.