A cabinet session held on Friday was “one of the calmest ever,” Information Minister Walid Daouq said, stressing that the ministers would discuss the 2011 draft state budget next week.

“It was one of the calmest sessions,” Daouq told reporters after the government convened at the Grand Serail under Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

Speaker Nabih Berri condemned on Friday the attack on UNIFIL and the national security, saying it aims at destabilizing the South.

“The terrorist attack that targeted the UNIFIL forces aims at destabilizing Lebanon and the South,” a statement issued by Berri’s office said.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe condemned Friday's bomb attack on a U.N. peacekeeping patrol in Lebanon in which five French troops were wounded, saying France would not be intimidated by such "vile acts.”

"I condemn in the strongest terms the cowardly attack that was carried out against UNIFIL this morning," Juppe added in a statement.

March 14 opposition MP Marwan Hamadeh blamed Damascus for Friday's attack on a UNIFIL patrol in the southern city of Tyre, saying it was orchestrated with the help of its ally Hizbullah.

"It is clear that Syria was behind what happened today and the messenger was Hizbullah," Hamadeh told Agence France Presse. "Nothing happens in that region without Hizbullah's approval."

Prime Minister Najib Miqati condemned on Friday an attack on a UNIFIL patrol in the southern coastal city of Tyre, saying such bombings would not affect the mission of the peacekeepers.

“These crimes don’t only target the international (peacekeeping) forces but also the security and stability of all Lebanon and the south,” Miqati said as he headed a meeting of top security officials at the Grand Serail.

French ambassador Denis Pietton stressed that his country didn’t reject leading the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which undergoes a rotation principle between the three European countries that have the wider participation in it.

“We are satisfied with the amount of our participation in the UNIFIL, but we didn’t reveal any desire to command” the peacekeeping forces, Pietton said in an interview with As Safir newspaper published on Friday.

Five French soldiers and two civilians were wounded on Friday by a powerful roadside bomb that targeted a UNIFIL patrol in the southern coastal city of Tyre, a spokesperson and media reports said.

UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said the 5 peacekeepers were injured when an explosion targeted their patrol in an area south of Tyre around 9:30 am. He did not specify to which contingent they belonged to.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, who will arrive in Beirut on a two-day visit on Wednesday, is expected to hold talks with senior Lebanese officials over matters concerning the security and political situation in the country.

“Feltman will focus (in his talks) on the security and political situation in Lebanon and the regional situation especially in Syria,” a U.S. diplomatic source told As Safir newspaper on Tuesday.

Hizbullah’s announcement on Friday that it had foiled an attempt by Israel to spy on its telecom network that was installed between two southern towns, raised questions on how Israel succeeded in its operation, the Central News Agency reported.

Security sources told the news agency on Saturday that the “war between Israel and Hizbullah became electronic.”

France has renounced leading the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon fearing that its contingent would be a possible target of attacks if the situation on the border deteriorated, according to a report published in Le Figaro Newspaper on Saturday.

“It is better to stay in the shadows when the French diplomacy is taking a major role in the campaign on the Syrian regime,” military sources told the newspaper.