Phalange lawmaker Sami Gemayel and Hizbullah MP Nawwaf Moussawi clashed in parliament on Wednesday when the issue of the Shiite group’s attempt to expand its telecommunications network was discussed.

During a Question and Answer session, the second since the formation of the cabinet, Gemayel criticized Hizbullah over its “illegal excavation and installation works in the town of Tarshish.”

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Commander Major General Alberto Asarta expressed frustration over the unstable security situation in the South, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

“After I have praised for a year and a half the ideal security situation in the South, saying that that this region is the most stable,” the situation deteriorated, the daily quoted Asarta as telling Speaker Nabih Berri during a meeting at Ain el-Tineh on Tuesday.

A meeting was held lately between Ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Jebran Bassil, and the aide of the Hizbullah chief, Hussein Khalil, to set the stage for talks between leaders of the March 8 coalition, media reports said Wednesday.

An Nahar newspaper said the meeting was aimed at containing the rift between them after the Hizbullah ministers voted at a cabinet session last week in favor of a proposal made by Premier Najib Miqati rather than supporting a decree on the increase in wages suggested by Minister Charbel Nahhas, who is their ally.

A Lebanese national who U.S. authorities say is the ringleader of a vast international drug smuggling ring with links to Hizbullah has been indicted on drug and money laundering charges after allegedly reaping more than $850 million in illicit profits.

The indictment was announced Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria against Ayman Joumaa, who is currently at large. It alleges he led a conspiracy that, among other activities, sold nearly 100 tons of Colombian cocaine to the Zetas drug cartel in Mexico between 2005 and 2007 that was ultimately smuggled into the United States. The conspiracy has run since at least 2004 and at times brought in as much as $200 million in a single month, according to court documents.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim Robert Watkins said Tuesday he agreed with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi during talks in Bkirki on “the importance of asserting state authority throughout all of Lebanon’s territory and of taking measures to safeguard the stability and security of the country.”

“In this regard, I briefed the Patriarch on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 and the Secretary-General’s recent report. We are naturally disconcerted by the rising number of incidents, two rocket firing incidents in the period of two weeks and yet another attack on UNIFIL troops, which the Secretary-General and the Security Council have condemned in the strongest terms,” Watkins added.

Former premier Saad Hariri on Tuesday reiterated that the latest spate of security incidents in southern Lebanon was a “message” from Syria, accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s allies in Lebanon of carrying out the attacks.

“The truth is that these things just don't happen, it’s a Syrian message from Bashar through his guys in Lebanon,” Hariri said in English, answering a question from a Twitter user.

The Mustaqbal bloc noted on Tuesday that the state’s restoration of its sovereignty can help restore stability in Lebanon.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The recent instability in the country can be attributed to the widespread possession of illegitimate arms.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun noted on Tuesday that the firing of rockets from Lebanon to Israel coincided with the campaign against Hizbullah accusing it of seeking to launch a war against the Jewish state.

Commenting on his ties with the party, he said: “Political and work incidents happen.”

French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton stressed on Tuesday the need to keep Lebanon away from regional tensions, asserting that France will maintain its support for Lebanon even if it reduces the number of its troops in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

He said after holding talks with Minister of Social Affairs Wael Abu Faour that UNIFIL’s peacekeeping unit is conducting a strategic revision of the participation in the international force.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Tuesday the importance of cooperation between the people, army, and resistance, as well as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, in defending the security of southern Lebanon.

He said after holding talks with UNIFIL Commander Major General Alberto Asarta: “The attacks that have taken place in the South target the equation of the army, people, and resistance.”