Two Syrian nationals were badly wounded on Thursday by a landmine at the illegal border-crossing of al-Buni in northern Lebanon, reported the National News Agency.

Ahmed Mustapha Khodr and Ahmad Abdul Karim were injured while attempting to cross the border into Wadi Khaled from the Syrian town of al-Mushayrfeh.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi reiterated on the occasion of St. Maroun Day on Thursday his call for the adoption of a new social pact to renew the national pact of 1943.

During a sermon at the St. George Cathedral in downtown Beirut, al-Rahi said the new pact would be based on mutual respect, equality and cooperation that would neutralize Lebanon and steer it clear of regional and international axes.

Sophisticated weapons could be transferred from Syria to Hizbullah if the regime of Bashar Assad falls, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Thursday.

"You have to be alert to the possibility so that during the fall of the regime there will not be the transfer of sophisticated Syrian weapons to Hizbullah and Lebanon," he told Israeli military radio.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati arrived to France on Thursday on a three-day visit to meet with senior officials amid a cabinet crisis locally.

Miqati prepared answers to specific French questions concerning protecting the refugees and the free Syrian Army, LBC reported.

Minister of State Ali Qanso has appeased fears over a protracted government crisis, saying cabinet sessions could resume next week or by the end of February.

In remarks to al-Liwaa daily published Thursday, Qanso said that some mediation efforts have been launched to bring the bickering sides together after Premier Najib Miqati suspended cabinet sessions over what he termed the obstacles put forward by ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef stressed on Thursday that Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare could refer a new indictment secretly to Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen without revealing its context.

“The court’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence give the prosecutor two ways to refer an indictment to the pre-trial judge either discreetly, or he can refer it without revealing its context (to the public),” Youssef told An Nahar newspaper.

MP Marwan Hamadeh has revealed that Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare could refer a “unified” indictment to the pre-trial judge before the end of his mandate.

In remarks to Future News on Wednesday, Hamadeh said the court has informed him that the indictment in the assassination attempt against him on Oct. 2004 and ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 murder “will be unified and will be referred before Bellemare quits his mission for health reasons.”

Head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, ex-PM Fouad Saniora, on Wednesday stressed that the Mustaqbal Movement supports “the deployment of the Lebanese army on Lebanon’s borders.”

After talks at his office with Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji, Saniora told MTV: “The Mustaqbal Movement’s stance is clear in demanding the deployment of the Lebanese army on Lebanon’s border in order to reassure the residents and protect them from all the attempts we’re witnessing.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati ordered on Wednesday the closure of public and private institutions and schools on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14.

The March 14 leadership decided to mark the anniversary on Tuesday at the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center.

President Michel Suleiman praised on Wednesday the role of the army in maintaining the civil peace and protecting the citizens, reported the National News Agency.

He called on the people to support the army in order to avert any possible repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon.