The Army Command announced on Friday that Israeli troops briefly crossed the Blue Line into Lebanon earlier in the morning before returning to Israel.

It said that five troops opened the technical gate at the southern region of Houla and then crossed the Blue Line for a brief time.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has tasked Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly to inform Lebanese officials about his deep concern over a possible vacuum in the army leadership, American and European diplomats said.

The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Monday that Ban is “extremely concerned” that a vacuum in the army commander's post would have security and political repercussions on the role of U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora has called on Hizbullah to withdraw its “militia” form Syria and urged the deployment of the Lebanese army along Lebanon's border.

During a speech at a graduation ceremony held in the southern city of Sidon on Thursday night, Saniora said: “Hizbullah should pull out its militia from Syria and return the young men of the Bekaa and the South to their homes, villages, businesses and families.”

Tension was high on Saturday along al-Wazzani region in southern Lebanon as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and Lebanese army deployed heavily in the area after Israeli soldiers crossed the barbed wire border fence.

Israeli troops crossed the fence, infiltrating 10 meters into an area along al-Wazzani River after expressing reservations over a cleaning process by a Lebanese bulldozer of the riverbed.

Italian Defense Minister Mario Mauro lauded on Thursday the role played by President Michel Suleiman to distance Lebanon from the region's crises.

A statement issued by the presidency said Mauro, who visited Suleiman at Baabda palace, praised Suleiman for abiding by the Baabda Declaration, a document adopted by rival Lebanese leaders last year pledging to stick to the dissociation policy.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Tuesday rejected a one-party rule in Lebanon and hinted that there should be an all-embracing government that does not give veto power to any party.

“Not a single party can rule alone even if it was the majority,” Miqati said during a ceremony held at the Grand Serail.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and the European Union mission in Lebanon denied reports that the EU could withdraw its troops affiliated in United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

“EU Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst didn't relay a warning backed by U.S. that it would withdraw its troops over Lebanon's slackness in preventing abduction of UNIFIL members,” according to a statement issued by the EU mission in Lebanon and received by the Naharnet.

The United Nations has called on Israel to halt increased military overflights in Lebanon's airspace amid heightened tensions after air raids on targets in Syria, a U.N. spokesman said Tuesday.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said that the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, had protested after recording a surge in Israeli flights over Lebanon.

Israel's military has deployed a rocket defense system to the north of the country following reported Israeli airstrikes in Syria targeting weapons believed to be destined for Hizbullah.

The military said it moved two Iron Dome batteries Sunday as part of "ongoing situational assessments."

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour asked Lebanon's ambassador to the U.N. late Saturday to file an “urgent” complaint with the Security Council over Israel's violations of Lebanese airspace.

A statement said that Mansour asked Nawwaf Salam to submit the complaint against Israel “over its flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and related international resolutions mainly resolution 1701.”