Israel is to start building a wall along part of its border with Lebanon next week to shield the northern town of Metulla, Channel 10 television reported on Monday.

It said the wall, more than two kilometers long and 10 meters high, was also aimed at preventing clashes between Israeli and Lebanese border forces whose posts are often just meters apart.

The Free Patriotic Movement on Monday said its activists were “intimidated” on Sunday in the northern city of Tripoli by “some fanatics,” accusing security forces of “dissociating themselves from protecting citizens.”

“The latest period has witnessed numerous intimidation and assault incidents against FPM activists in the North region in general and in Tripoli in particular, the latest of which was on Sunday during the annual breakfast organized by al-Mina committee for the activists and supporters of the FPM and their families,” the FPM’s media department said in a statement, noting that security forces were informed of the gathering.

The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Monday Energy Minister Jebran Bassil’s recent accusation that the March 14 forces are “preparing to kick off a new wave of political assassinations in Lebanon.”

It warned in a statement “the Lebanese state and all of its constitutional institutions, starting from the presidency, against dealing lightly with the assassination attempt against Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.”

The army intelligence foiled an attempt by three men to smuggle weapons to Syria, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

Two Lebanese men and a Syrian national were detained after the army confiscated their pick-up truck in Beirut.

President Michel Suleiman noted on Monday that French citizens of Lebanese heritage practiced their right to vote in France’s presidential election on Sunday.

He therefore said that “it is only natural for Lebanese expatriates to vote in the 2013 parliamentary elections.”

Military Examining Magistrate Imad al-Zain issued an arrest warrant on Monday against a Lebanese citizen on charges of contacting Israel.

G.M. is accused of providing Israel with information on missing Israeli military airman Ron Arad.

The body of the deputy head of the Divers’ Syndicate, Hussein Abu Khalil, has been found after he went missing Sunday while practicing diving in the southern city of Tyre, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.

Khalil, 42, had gone diving with sailors Ali Kaawar and Hussein Tahhan in an area called “Ras al-Mizrab”, which is known to be littered with dumped old car parts and is rife with large fish.

A new spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been appointed, As Safir newspaper reported on Monday.

According to the daily, the Italian assistant UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti has succeeded India’s Neeraj Singh.

Speaker Nabih Berri is committed to his suggestion to adopt proportional representation for the electoral law, reported As Safir newspaper on Monday.

To this end, his advisor Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and that of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hussein Khalil, are expected to hold talks on Thursday with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on the electoral law.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati expressed relief for the opportunity that was given to his cabinet to prove itself once again by the vote of confidence, As Safir newspaper reported on Monday.

“I will exert all efforts to invest in this opportunity to achieve the demands of the Lebanese people,” he told the daily.