Five French soldiers serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were wounded on Tuesday, one seriously, in a roadside bomb attack in the southern city of Sidon, a UNIFIL spokesman told Agence France Presse.

"According to preliminary reports, at around 6:00 pm today (1500 GMT) an explosion targeted a UNIFIL convoy along the highway at Sidon," said UNIFIL spokesman Neeraj Singh.

A conference for March 14 legal figures called on United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the Arab League to maintain their support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon “until justice is achieved.”

The conference was held at the Bristol Hotel in Beirut bringing together a number of the camp’s legal officials.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated on Tuesday that Internal Security Force chief Major General Ashraf Rifi’s several violations “make him ineligible to remain in his position in office.”

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “His statement that he was born out of the March 14 camp’s womb is one of his violations because this is not part of the ISF law.”

Israeli President Shimon Peres accused on Tuesday Iran of seeking to control the Middle East through Hizbullah and Hamas.

He said in an address to the Arab and Muslim world on the occasion of the month of Ramadan: “Tehran does not want the establishment of a stable Middle East, but it wants to take control of it through stirring tensions through Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

Security forces have arrested 3 people for opening fire from a speeding car near the home of Arab Democratic Party official Rifaat Eid in Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen neighborhood.

The party’s politburo member Abdel Latif Saleh told Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) that the assailants opened fire on the house of ADP’s political affairs officer Rifaat Eid.

An Israeli government spokesman accused Hizbullah of exploiting the issue of the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel in order to wage a war against the Jewish state, reported al-Liwaa daily on Tuesday.

He added that Hizbullah is labeling this matter as “the maritime Shebaa Farms,” noting that it is a strictly political affair, which the party is employing for its interests.

The cabinet is expected to hold its next meeting on Tuesday to discuss routine administrative issues except for the appointment of the director-general of investments at the energy ministry.

The ministers received on Monday a partial copy of the agenda that includes 54 items.

The unprecedented revolt threatening the regime in Syria has placed key ally Hizbullah in a tight spot and prompted the Lebanese group to adopt a more measured attitude, analysts say.

"Hizbullah's margin of maneuver is currently very limited because the strategic Iran-Syria-Hizbullah axis is threatened by the revolt and this forces the group to act prudently," said Paris-based Middle East expert Agnes Levallois.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed during a meeting with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams that the UNIFIL can play a role in the demarcation of the disputed maritime borders with Israel “unless the navy forces of the UNIFIL are only found to monitor our regional waters and shores.”

As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday that Williams was insisting on his stance during the discussion, saying that the “U.N. isn’t specialized in demarcating any maritime border, and the two disputed countries have to negotiate” over the issue.

Pre-trial Judge Daniel Fransen is mulling whether to make the entire indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder case public or keep parts of it confidential, Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef has unveiled.

Youssef told MTV on Monday that Fransen is still thinking about the issue. He has till August 11 when the 30-day period given to Lebanon to serve out the arrest warrants against four Hizbullah members ends.