Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun reiterated Tuesday his rejection of the proposed extension of parliament's term, as he noted that Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea's initiative on the parliamentary and presidential polls is not “realistic.”

“It is well-known that we reject extension. However, there are misleading interpretations and the issue is being approached in a wrong manner, as there is nothing called vacuum in the Lebanese state,” said Aoun after the weekly meeting of his Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in Rabieh.

Saudi Arabia and France inked on Tuesday in Riyadh a deal to provide the Lebanese army with $3 billion worth of French weapons, with Riyadh footing the bill.

The deal, first announced in December, comes as the Lebanese army is battling gunmen and jihadists, including from the Islamic State group, in the north and along its northeastern border with war-torn Syria.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea renewed on Tuesday his opposition to the extension of parliament's term, while accusing the government and Change and Reform bloc of adopting double standards in this issue.

He said during a press conference: “We can avoid the extension by heading to parliament and electing a president on Wednesday instead of voting for the renewal of its term.”

Shiites held Ashura processions on Tuesday in Beirut's southern suburbs and several towns in southern and eastern Lebanon as Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah dismissed Israeli threats as a source of concern.

“Israel's threats of another war on Lebanon do not stem from its power because it has lost hope and is concerned,” Nasrallah said in a televised address to hundreds of thousands of Shiites gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs following the Ashura march.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stressed on Tuesday the importance of equality between Muslims and Christians in Lebanon, reiterating that the fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are not linked to Islam.

“Lebanon is a model for coexistence between Muslim and Christian. They both live equally,” al-Rahi said from the Australian capital Canberra.

The Defense Ministry hasn't yet delivered to the cabinet's secretariat the report on Defense Minister Samir Moqbel's recent visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Tuesday, the report will include details on the controversial Iranian grant to the Lebanese army, which will decide its fate.

Hizbullah is exerting last-minute efforts to convince its ally Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun to resolve the parliament extension crisis, As Safir daily reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's aide Hussein Khalil and the party's liaison and coordination officer Wafiq Safa sought to convince Aoun's Change and Reform bloc members to resolve the problem ahead of Wednesday's parliamentary session.

Lebanese officials have welcomed Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech amid hopes that it would lead to dialogue among the country's rival parties.

“The country needs positive rhetoric more than any other time and this is what I saw in Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's” speech, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat told As Safir daily published on Tuesday.

The Vatican will dispatch a delegation to Beirut on a three-day visit, An Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper reported that the delegation will arrive in Lebanon on Thursday and will contact senior Lebanese officials.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Monday urged the political forces to take part in a key legislative session scheduled for Wednesday, in which MPs are likely to vote for extending the legislature's term for a second time in two years.

“The bloc reiterates its stance that the priority is for the election of a president, but the deliberate obstruction of this process has necessitated resorting to an extension of the parliament's term,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.