Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun noted on Monday that Lebanon is influenced by all of the developments in the Middle East.

He said during an FPM conference: “Given the very high tensions in the region, we must calm the situation in Lebanon as much as possible in order to prevent an escalation.”

Speaker Nabih Berri met on Monday with a delegation from the families of the 11 abducted Lebanese pilgrims.

He vowed before them to “follow up on their case until they are released.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat condemned on Monday the assassination attempt against opposition MP Butros Harb, stressing the need for all the details in the crime to be uncovered.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “The sides behind the crime or others have not learned that assassinations only increase the Lebanese people’s determination and attachment to their freedom and democracy.”

U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly voiced concern on Monday over the cross-border shelling into northern Lebanon that left two Lebanese and one Syrian refugee dead.

Connelly “voiced U.S. government concern over recent reports of cross-border shelling into northern Lebanon and expressed her condolences for the deaths of Lebanese civilians,” the U.S. embassy said in a statement.

Israel is mulling responses to the possibility that Lebanon will divert water from the Hasbani river under the guise of the construction of a tourism center near the border with the Jewish state, the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.

A senior Israeli army officer in the Northern Command told the newspaper that the center could be used to divert water from the river, which supplies 25 percent of the Jordan river’s waters.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati held several meetings on Monday to discuss the possibility of referring the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and his companion to the Judicial Council.

“The ministers will vote on the issue just like all the other decision taken by the cabinet,” Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi told reporters at the Grand Serail after meeting with the premier.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour shrugged off criticism over Lebanon’s failure to file a complaint with the U.N. on the latest deaths of Lebanese in a cross-border attack in the northern area of Wadi Khaled, saying the Syrian shelling was not intentional.

In remarks to al-Joumhouria daily published Monday and Tele Liban the day before, Mansour expressed regret at the death of two Lebanese in the shelling that took place over the weekend but said “such clashes do take place on the border of any country due to unintentional mistakes.”

Electricite du Liban contract workers continued their strike on Monday, warning of escalatory measures if the company failed to pay their salaries.

Employees in the coastal town of Jounieh, north of Beirut, started flocking to the company’s headquarters in the area to participate in the sit-in.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Monday he signed a bill to better equip a phone call interception command center in a move that would allow it to receive the so-called controversial telecom data.

In remarks to al-Liwaa daily, Charbel said if approved, the bill would allow the center to receive the equipment and later provide security bodies with the data to thwart security attacks or probe any incident that threatens to spiral out of control, including assassination attempts on Lebanese officials.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun denies that his ties with Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah deteriorated over the controversy on Electricite du Liban’s contract workers, As Safir daily reported on Monday.

The newspaper quoted Aoun’s visitors as saying that the FPM chief shares with Nasrallah a lot of moral and patriotic values and both have gone through common circumstances.