Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will skip Washington in his U.S. tour after he was informed that “the time was not appropriate to arrange a meeting with the U.S. president,” informed sources told An Nahar daily on Tuesday.

Al-Rahi will begin his pastoral trip on Oct. 4. His first stop will be the city of Saint Louis in Missouri. The patriarch’s visit until Oct. 23 will include stops in Maronite parishes in the states of Illinois, Ohio, Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and others.

The luncheon banquet that was hosted by Speaker Nabih Berri in honor of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in the southern town of Msayleh on Monday was shunned by former Premier Fouad Saniora and MP Bahia Hariri, thus raising speculation about the consequences of al-Rahi’s visit to the south.

Sources close to Saniora told An Nahar newspaper on Tuesday that the reason behind the MP’s boycott to the banquet was because al-Rahi refused to accept an invitation over lunch at the Hariri’s house in Majdelyoun but accepted Berri’s invitation.

The U.S. has sent a stern warning to Lebanon that “it will be hurt” if it doesn’t commit itself to a new U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Syria over its violent crackdown on protestors, Beirut dailies said.

Al-Liwaa newspaper on Tuesday quoted U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman as saying that if the Council imposes sanctions against Syria, “then Lebanon should commit to them and if it doesn’t it will be hurt.”

The Dar al-Fatwa spiritual summit stressed on Tuesday the importance of historic and current cooperation between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon.

The closing statement, read by Secretary General of the Christian-Muslim Committee for Dialogue Mohammed al-Sammak, stressed: “All sides should adhere to the civil state, frank dialogue, and reject foreign meddling in Lebanon.”

The Phalange Party on Monday lauded President Michel Suleiman’s recent speech at the U.N. General Assembly, saying the president “stressed Lebanon’s commitment to international legitimacy and the Security Council resolutions.”

The party, however, criticized what it called “the multiplicity of Lebanon’s representation at the U.N. institutions during the current session, as it will be represented by the president, the premier (Najib Miqati), the foreign minister (Adnan Mansour) and Lebanon’s (permanent) envoy to the international organization” Nawwaf Salam.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat noted on Monday that the wars that have taken place in Lebanon have been part of a “great settlement” aimed at harming the Palestinian independent decisions and usurping Lebanon’s national will.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “A critical revision of the Lebanese civil war is necessary, as is a deep examination of the real reasons why Palestinian armed groups were involved in it.”

An Egyptian national and his Lebanese wife were arrested in the southern region of Hasbaya on suspicion of collaborating with Israel, said the Army Command in a statement on Monday.

It explained that the couple was under surveillance for some time and the male suspect confessed that he had started working with Israeli intelligence in 1999.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Monday that Lebanon is committed to the implementation of international resolutions, noting that Israel’s failure to respect them resulted in the formation of the Resistance.

He said while hosting Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi over a luncheon banquet in the southern town of Msayleh: “The Resistance will defend Lebanon against any aggression and we say to all sides that they should protect it rather than fear it.”

The four Iranians kidnapped in Lebanon at the height of the civil war are alive and being held in Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.

“Regarding the four abducted Iranian diplomats, there are documents (which prove) they are alive and in the hands of the Zionist regime,” Ahmadinejad was quoted by Iran’s Fars News Agency as telling U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon during a meeting in New York on Saturday.

The French Foreign Ministry stressed on Monday the importance of the presence of the Christian communities in the East, refuting some Lebanese media reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy supported the immigration of Christians in the East to Europe in light of the developments in the region.

It said in a statement: “France is committed to the Christian presence in Lebanon, Syria, and the Middle East.”