Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Najib Miqati of “breaking the laws and covering up major violations.”

OGERO chief “Abdul Monem Youssef is being treated as a saint because we do not want to upset the premier. It seems that the premier believes he can only get stronger through breaking the laws and covering up major violations,” Aoun said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday said that “the session held Monday by the (parliamentary) human rights committee had witnessed a real charade, as the judiciary was used to cover up an operation whose chapters are still shrouded in mystery.”

Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal MPs wrangled on Monday at the committee meeting which witnessed curses, threats and counter accusations.

Grand Shiite Jaafarite Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Qabalan left for the Vatican at the head of an Islamic delegation on Tuesday to attend an interreligious prayer for peace.

The visit comes in response to an invitation by Pope Benedict XVI to take part in the 25th anniversary of the first such prayer.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Tuesday attended the funeral of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz in Riyadh.

Miqati headed a high-ranking delegation that comprised Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, State Minister Ahmed Karami, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq, Public Works Minister Ghazi al-Aridi and other officials.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat on Tuesday held Hizbullah responsible for any harm inflicted on him after he accused the Shiite party lawmaker, Ali Ammar, of telling him to fight it out outside parliament.

Fatfat told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) that Ammar’s invitation was a direct public threat in front of scores of lawmakers during the meeting of the human rights parliamentary committee on Monday.

The West fears that the popular uprising that erupted in Syria might affect the Lebanese local situation, as the Lebanese officials are divided over their responses to the revolt against President Bashar Assad.

“Any new European sanctions will target the financial sector in Syria,” western diplomatic sources told An Nahar newspaper on Tuesday.

The United States on Monday condemned the Syrian army's incursions into Lebanon and suggested that dissidents of the Damascus regime had either been killed or taken prisoner at the border.

"Over the course of the last few weeks, it appears Syrian forces have entered Lebanese territory," a State Department spokesman told reporters, denouncing the move and calling on Syria to respect Lebanon's sovereignty.

Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal MPs wrangled on Monday at the human rights parliamentary committee meeting which witnessed curses, threats and counter accusations.

The committee was scheduled to discuss a report by Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi on the alleged involvement of the Syrian embassy in the disappearance of Syrian opposition activists in Lebanon.

A High-ranking Lebanese official attempted to extend the timeframe of the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whereby the cabinet has until the end of November to pay its dues.

United Nations sources told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Tuesday that the official attempted to extend the timeframe until Hizbullah and its allies agree on the funding, but the STL didn’t approve the request.

A bomb placed in a rubbish container at the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon exploded late Monday, leaving eight people injured, a Palestinian security official told Agence France Presse.

"An explosion took place in the Ain al-Hilweh camp around 9:30 pm, injuring eight people, one of whom was gravely injured," said Maher Chabayta, a representative of Fatah Movement in the camp.