Hizbullah is reportedly mediating between Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat after the FPM asked for a “services ministry” alleging that it has no such portfolio as part of its shares in the new cabinet.

Sources involved in the consultations aimed at forming the government told al-Akhbar daily in remarks published Monday that Hizbullah made no major progress yet in its mediation efforts.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday that Israelis and Arabs must show "utmost responsibility" to ward off new hostilities after a day of clashes in which at least 12 people were killed and hundreds wounded, a U.N. spokesman said.

Ban said there had to be a new effort to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after the fighting along Israel's borders with Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, his spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

A deal to form a 30-member cabinet in which the March 8 forces would get 19 ministers, while 11 ministers would be allotted to the president, the premier-designate and the Progressive Socialist Party, is now under threat after the dispute over the interior ministry portfolio did not abate.

March 14 sources told An Nahar daily in remarks published Monday that practically March 8 would get 20 ministers while the remaining 10 would go to President Michel Suleiman, PM-designate Najib Miqati and PSP leader Walid Jumblat.

Speaker Nabih Berri said that the parliament will begin holding sessions to compensate the ongoing standstill in the formation of the cabinet.

Berri told As Safir newspaper published Monday that there is a “certain step” that he will reveal on Monday, saying that he will be giving a grace period, until mid-week, to the continued efforts to solve the government deadlock.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has stressed that the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland is a right and believed that it would be achieved soon.

Addressing the protesters who marched on Israel's borders with Lebanon, Syria and Gaza on Sunday, Nasrallah lauded their “courage and belief” for confronting Israel and crying out loud to inform the world about their clear stance.

All of the 585 inmates at the juvenile ward of Roumieh prison have ended their hunger strike after receiving certain promises and learning that Speaker Nabih Berri had asked the parliament to discuss their demands, state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.

Meanwhile, prison authorities seized "210 narcotic pills, 15 grams of hashish and two mobile phone cases while searching items sent to inmates in Roumieh prison's bloc D," according to NNA.

Israeli gunfire killed 10 people and wounded 112 others in the Lebanese border town of Maroun al-Ras during a Palestinian refugee protest on Sunday to mark "Nakba Day," the Lebanese army said in a statement.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called for "maximum restraint on all sides in order to prevent any further casualties" and for "immediate concrete security steps on the ground."

Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi stressed on Sunday that the new majority will continue its efforts to overcome the obstacles in the government formation until it is finally established.

He said: “We realize that some sides are counting on the prime minister-designate to resign in order for them to retry past governmental experiences.”

The deadly unrest in Syria spilled over into Lebanon where a woman was killed at a border crossing as protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime entered a third month on Sunday.

Gunfire from Syria raked a crowd at al-Boqaia crossing near the town of Wadi Khaled, killing the Syrian woman and wounding five people including a Lebanese soldier, a Lebanese security official and an AFP correspondent said.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati’s brother, Taha, visited Damascus on Wednesday where he met with Syrian officials, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

Sources told the daily: “The Syrian officials voiced their relief that an agreement was reached over who will assume the Interior Ministry and Damascus supports Miqati’s position of hanging on to his privileges in forming the government.”