Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam said he has been informed that Saudi Arabia rejects the interference in his efforts to come up with a new government.

“The official Saudi stance that I have been informed of is the non-interference in the cabinet formation and leaving it to the wisdom of the Lebanese,” Salam told As Safir daily published Monday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed on Monday that PM-designate Tammam Salam should form a cabinet with “what he has at hand or apologize from lining one up,” he told the al-Akhbar daily.

“A cabinet should be lined-up as soon as possible, and PM-designate Tammam Salam should form one with what is possible at hand, or apologize from his mission,” Geagea told the daily al-Akhbar.

Bahrain's foreign minister on Sunday urged Iran's newly elected president to seek the withdrawal of Hizbullah fighters from Syria as a gesture to try to ease the civil war there.

The appeal by Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, during meetings between the European Union and Gulf Arab foreign ministers, showed the widening shadow of Syria's 27-month conflict that has spilled across borders, involving Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey in varying degrees.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said Sunday a possible extension of Army chief General Jean Qahwaji's term would be “a political and not a military deal,” noting that Monday's legislative session is legitimate although the Change and Reform bloc will boycott it over its “agenda.”

“Tomorrow's parliamentary session is legitimate,” Aoun said during an interview on al-Jadeed television.

The Phalange Party on Sunday called for postponing a three-day parliamentary session scheduled to begin on Monday, highlighting the need for “consensus.”

“The Phalange Party lauds Speaker Nabih Berri's call for holding a legislative session to activate parliament's work and approve the urgent draft laws,” it said in a statement.

Qatar's new emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Sunday stressed to President Michel Suleiman and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati during talks in Doha that the presence of Lebanese employees in Qatar is not in danger.

Suleiman and Miqati, who were accompanied by Deputy PM Samir Moqbel, returned from Doha after they extended congratulations to Sheikh Tamim on assuming his duties as the ruler of the country, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

Intermittent sniper fire left one person injured in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday, the state-run National News Agency reported.

It said Mohammed Abdo Ibrahim, a resident of the neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, was wounded in the leg when sniper fire between the area and al-Baqqar broke out.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi called on Sunday for a reconciliation among bickering politicians to ease political, security and economic pressure on the Lebanese people.

During his sermon in Bkirki, al-Rahi said he has “asked for the reconciliation of politicians and the bickering sects out of pity for the people that are suffering from security instability, and a strangling economic and livelihood crisis.”

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem accused al-Mustaqbal movement on Sunday of standing behind the latest clashes that left scores of casualties in the southern city of Sidon.

“Hadn't been for al-Mustaqbal ... civil peace and stability wouldn't have been hit hard” in Sidon, he said.

The website of Phalange MP Nadim Gemayel was hacked on Sunday and a video showing the clash between his bodyguards and activists was posted on it.

A statement appeared under the video addressing Gemayel. “Lock out your dogs,” it said.