Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi revealed on Tuesday that he had requested from France that the excuses for Hizbullah to maintain its possession of arms be eliminated.

He said during the Dar al-Fatwa spiritual summit: “We requested French assistance in eliminating its excuses to keep its weapons and help in strengthening the Lebanese army because only then can we say that the party no longer needs its arms.”

The United States considers the ongoing popular protests in Syria and a number of Arab countries as “a reflection of the ambitions of these countries’ peoples, their aspiration for freedom and democracy, and their adherence to all of their political and civil rights,” a western diplomatic source stressed.

In an interview with Naharnet, the source noted that “the U.S. administration believes it is Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s right to express the concerns and aspirations of his community during this period.

T-Group Productions is set to release the Lebanese movie, ‘My last valentine in Beirut’, the first feature film to be produced in 3D in the Arab region ever, with one of the highest production costs and biggest production team.

The movie will have a world wide release with professionally crafted plans of marketing mixes and distribution.

A Group of 3 Lebanese men launched on August 22 an iOS game called Birdy Nam Nam on iTunes App Store, clocking over 400,000 downloads in less than a week.

The team was determined to give the game a distinctly Arabic flavor. The iOS game, available in Arabic, English and French, is set in the Middle East, where the region is coming under attack from mutant chickens attempting to dominate the world.

The Internal Security Forces killed two accomplices of the alleged mastermind behind the kidnapping of seven Estonians during clashes in the area of al-Bireh in Rashaya at midnight, media reports said Tuesday.

The National News Agency said the two men were killed at around 12:30 am after the ISF put iron barricades on a road between al-Bireh and Izza to stop their four-wheeler. But their vehicle veered off its course and hit a wall.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday warned against "any foreign intervention that threatens to fragment states in the region and increase the risk of extremism in them," in talks with a Russian delegation on a mission to help end the government crackdown on anti-regime protests.

Assad also welcomed the "balanced and constructive Russian position toward the security and stability of Syria," the state-run SANA news agency reported.

Syria has filed a “strong formal protest memorandum” with the Arab League over Wednesday’s meeting between its Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi and “figures claiming to represent the Syrian opposition,” Syria’s official news agency SANA said Friday.

The opposition figures “handed al-Arabi a list of demands calling for all forms of flagrant foreign interference, including military intervention,” SANA said.

Syrian President Bashar Assad urged on Saturday Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi against falling victim to misleading campaigns aimed at creating incitement against Syria, reported the official Syrian news agency SANA.

Al-Arabi affirmed that the Arab League and Arab countries are committed to Syria's security and stability, it added.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces rejected on Saturday the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf over protestors’ attack against the Israeli Embassy in Egypt, reported al-Arabiya television.

Three people were killed in clashes overnight between police and protesters outside the embassy in Cairo, and a fourth died of a heart attack, Egyptian hospital sources said on Saturday.

Fourteen people were killed on Friday in demonstrations in several Syrian cities that took place under the banner of “Death Rather than Humiliation.”

Local Coordination Committees (LCC) announced via internet sites that seven people were shot dead by Syrian security forces in the region of Reef Damascus and three were killed in the province of Deir al-Zour.