France has decided to decrease the number of its troops serving with UNIFIL despite pledges by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon that last week’s attack on his country’s peacekeepers would not dampen Paris’ commitment to the mission, An Nahar daily reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said consultations are underway between French army generals to set the number of the downsize before informing the U.N. peacekeeping leadership that is reviewing UNIFIL’s strategic mission about their decision.

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.

More than 5,000 people are now believed to have been killed in the Syrian government's crackdown on protests, U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay told the U.N. Security Council on Monday.

More than 14,000 people are estimated to have been detained and 12,400 have fled into neighboring countries, Pillay told a closed session of the 15-nation council, according to diplomats.

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.

Syrian security forces shot dead at least one person early Monday as they launched a raid in the northwestern province of Idlib, where mutinous soldiers were fighting army troops, a rights group said.

The violence came as pro-democracy activists pushed a campaign of civil disobedience launched Sunday with a general strike across Syria designed to bring down the regime of President Bashar Assad.

The security unrest witnessed in Lebanon in recent weeks, most notably Friday’s attack against the French unit in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, requires diligent governmental work that would prevent future instability, reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

Security sources told the daily that the attack will likely increase tensions between France and Syria in light of French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe’s accusation on Sunday that Syria was “undoubtedly” behind the assault.

The Syrian embassy in Amman said on Sunday that a group of people broke into the mission and attacked the staff after claiming they had paperwork to complete.

"More than 10 people broke into the embassy today and when the security guard tried to kick them out, they beat him with tools they carried," the embassy said in a statement.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Sunday that Damascus was “undoubtedly” behind Friday’s bomb attack against a French UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon.

However, the top French diplomat noted that he had no evidence to substantiate his claim.

Syrian troops battled army defectors Sunday in clashes that left several military vehicles in flames. The fighting and other violence around the nation killed at least 20 people, the Local Coordination Committees said.

Six people were killed in the central province of Hama, another six in the central province of Homs, three in the northwestern province of Idlib, three in the Damascus suburbs of al-Mleiha and Douma, and two in the southern province of Daraa, the Committees said.