The Phalange Party politburo praised on Monday the Maronite leaders’ meeting last week that reached an agreement on adopting the Orthodox gathering’s proposals on a parliamentary electoral law, saying that it demonstrated that the Christians share common concerns.

It said in a statement after its weekly politburo meeting: “The Maronite leaders’ agreement paves the way for further agreements on national principles that can provide the basis for their work in the future.”

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim Robert Watkins hoped on Monday that the Lebanese authorities will take the necessary measures to bring those behind the attacks against the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon to justice.

He said after holding talks with Hizbullah International Relations official Ammar Moussawi: “It is in the interest of all parties to ensure that security is guaranteed for those, such as UNIFIL troops, who are trying to maintain stability in the South along the Blue Line.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat noted on Monday that the best thing that came out of the United States’ invasion of Iraq was its toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Despite the tens of thousands of lives that were lost in the invasion, the attack did at least accomplish one good thing and that is the toppling of a fascist regime.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed on Monday the importance of dialogue in reaching an agreement over a parliamentary electoral law.

He told Radio Orient: “Dialogue over the law is ongoing with all our allies.”

Lawmakers representing Beirut criticized on Monday the security situation in Lebanon, saying that “no reasonable individual” would accept the armed clashes that have erupted in the city over the past few months.

They said after a meeting at parliament: “The government is responsible for the unrest.”

Four Katyusha rockets were found in al-Khansa valley near the town of al-Majidiya in Hasbaya on Monday, media reports said, adding that the army engineering unit was seeking to defuse them.

The rockets, each hidden inside disused plastic water pipes placed under a thin layer of dirt, were found by a farmer.

The Drug Enforcement Bureau in the South destroyed on Monday 55 kilograms of heroin and 14 kilograms of cannabis and arrested their traffickers, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said the drugs that were confiscated from various areas in southern Lebanon were set on fire in the coastal city of Sidon.

Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said Monday that the authorities know the identity of militants launching rockets on Israel in an attempt to destabilize southern Lebanon.

“We know who is launching the rockets, who is making them, who is making the explosives and who is destabilizing the South,” Ghosn told As Safir newspaper.

The cabinet is expected to swiftly issue the decree on the controversial wage hike during its session on Wednesday, according to al-Liwaa newspaper.

Sources denied that the appointments of the top civil servants to administrative posts reserved for Christians, among them the Higher Judicial Council, will be tackled during the session.

The prices of red diesel dropped by LL3,000 to reach LL27,100 on Monday in accordance with a government decision made last week.

The cabinet cancelled the Value Added Tax on red diesel saying the removal of the tax would be effective as of Monday.