Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned that the next time violence breaks out, Israel would strike directly at the Lebanese government, which he said is allowing Hizbullah to rearm.

If the Shiite party fires a rocket into Tel Aviv, "we will not run after each Hizbullah terrorist or launcher. . . . We will see it as legitimate to hit any target that belongs to the Lebanese state, not just to Hizbullah," Barak told The Washington Post.

Sunni rebel group Jundallah claimed twin suicide bombings which killed 27 people in southeastern Iran, in a posting on its website, the latest in a string of attacks it has claimed against the Shiite country.

The rebel group, active in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province for nearly a decade, said it had targeted the elite Revolutionary Guards who were marking the annual Guards Day in the provincial capital Zahedan.

Speaker Nabih Berri has warned that a security agreement with France would not be adopted unless the Lebanese definition of terrorism was included in it.

"Lebanon defines terrorism differently than France. We believe Israel is the heart of terror and those who help it and support the occupation of Arab land … contribute to terrorism as well," Berri told An Nahar in remarks published Wednesday.

Lebanese troops carried out house raids following renewed shooting in Fanar Thursday morning, the state-run National News Agency said.

It said the crackle of machine gun fire was heard in Zoaiteriya neighborhood in the northern Metn area of Fanar.

MP Michel Murr stressed Wednesday the importance of granting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon their rights, but said a draft law on the matter cannot be submitted as an urgent bill.

He commented on Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat's recent statements on the issue by saying: "He has the right to act in whatever way he wants when he presented his proposal to parliament, perhaps it's because he's been practicing politics for a long time."

The United States on Wednesday urged "all those wishing to deliver goods to do so through established channels so that their cargo can be inspected and transferred via land crossings into Gaza."

"As we continue to make clear to involved parties, mechanisms exist for the transfer of humanitarian assistance to Gaza," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has reportedly warned his Lebanese counterpart Michel Suleiman from the dangers of international pressure to demarcate the border between the two countries while expressing readiness to start demarcation at sea.

Well-informed sources told As Safir newspaper in remarks published Thursday that Suleiman stressed during talks with Assad in Damascus on Tuesday on the need to demarcate the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led a chorus of defiant Iranian criticism of new U.N. sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic on Wednesday, saying they deserved to be "thrown in the trash bin."

"These resolutions are not worth a dime for the Iranian nation," he said.

Hizbullah blasted Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman for a testimony in which he said Hizbullah is the most technically-capable terrorist group in the world.

Feltman "plays the role of an Israeli official in America," Hizbullah said in a statement.

Cabinet clearly believed that 50/50 was the fair way to get with less fuss over the issue of voting against or abstain from voting for new U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran.

So a decision not to side with either political camp was taken after Cabinet ministers were equally divided between voting against the U.N. proposal and abstaining from the vote.