Maronite bishop Samir Mazloum expressed regret on Monday over the verbal spat between political arch-foes over the situation in Yemen, hoping that dialogue would defuse tension and preserve the cabinet.

“As long as there is a will to continue talks, then there is hope that we could reach progress,” Mazloum said in comments published in the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Seyassah.

Yemen rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi vowed Sunday he will "never give in" to a Saudi-led air war on his Shiite militants, branding the raids "savage aggression."

Huthi also rejected as "unfair" a U.N. Security Council resolution Tuesday that imposed an arms embargo on his group and demanded that the rebels pull back from territory they have seized.

With its campaign against Yemeni rebels at full throttle, Saudi Arabia has spared al-Qaida which has capitalized on the chaos, but experts say Riyadh will have to hit them eventually.

Faced with the Shiite rebels' march on Aden, President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's southern refuge, Riyadh assembled a Sunni-Arab coalition that launched a campaign of air strikes on March 26.

Arab military chiefs will meet this week in Cairo to discuss the forming of a joint military force to fight the region's growing extremist threat, an Arab League official said Sunday.

After Arab League leaders agreed to create such a force at a March summit in Egypt, army chiefs from member states will hold talks on Wednesday on details of how the force will be created, its role and its financing, a League source told AFP.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil warned on Sunday Lebanese parties from allegiance on foreign powers, considering that it would only destroy the country.

“Any stakes on the outside will not find its way locally... and any party seeking to engage in such an adventure will only attract chaos into Lebanon,” Bassil said as he toured villages in the northern district of Akkar.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea lashed out at parties that consider Lebanon part of a broader empire thus prolonging the presidential vacuum because it serves its strategic goals.

“The sides are not only paralyzing the Lebanese Republic, but also destabilizing the Arab and regional security by creating armed groups,” Geagea said.

Clashes between rebels and pro-government forces and Saudi-led air strikes killed at least 85 people in Yemen, medics and military sources said Sunday, after Riyadh pledged to fund a U.N. aid appeal.

The United Nations says hundreds of people have died and thousands of families have fled their homes since the coalition air war began on March 26 at the request of embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji hailed on Sunday the efforts exerted by Saudi Arabia to safeguard Lebanon, stressing that the “time is not right to reply to the insults” made by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah against Riyadh and the Gulf states.

“On behalf of myself and the Lebanese people I would like to thank the kingdom” for its grants to the Lebanese army,” Qahwaji said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat slammed on Sunday criticism by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah against Saudi Arabia, wondering what compelled him to deliver a tensed speech over the offensive in Yemen.

“The strongly worded rhetoric by Nasrallah doesn't benefit anyone,” Jumblat said in comments published in al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

The first French weapons from a $3 billion Saudi-funded program will arrive in Lebanon on Monday as allies seek to bolster the country's defenses against the Islamic State group and other jihadists pressing along its Syrian border.

Anti-tank guided missiles are set to arrive at an air force base in Beirut, overseen by French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Lebanese counterpart, Samir Moqbel.