Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has informed President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri that he hadn’t asked for an appointment with President Barack Obama amid reports that the U.S. administration had snubbed him over his controversial remarks on Hizbullah’s arms and the situation in Syria.

As Safir daily said Wednesday that al-Rahi informed Suleiman and Berri about the issue during the lunch banquet thrown in the patriarch’s honor in Msayleh on Monday.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani has called for an investigation into the “technical mistake” that led to the broadcast of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s remarks at the Islamic-Christian summit held at the Dar al-Fatwa on Tuesday.

Al-Liwaa daily said Wednesday that it had been agreed to broadcast only Qabbani’s opening statement. But Dar al-Fatwa’s radio station mistakenly leaked al-Rahi’s remarks prompting the Mufti to withdraw the statement.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani on Wednesday praised the positive spirit that prevailed during the Christian-Islamic spiritual summit, An Nahar newspaper reported.

“The summit came at the right time in a spontaneous way without any long preparations,” Qabbani told the daily.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday expressed relief over the closing statement of the Christian-Islamic spiritual summit that stressed the importance of the historic and current cooperation between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon.

Berri told As Safir newspaper that the closing statement is important especially “at this critical stage.”

U.N. Chief Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday said that he is interested in seeing the Lebanese government secure the necessary funding for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

After meeting PM Najib Miqati in New York , Ki-Moon said that the “U.N. stresses on Lebanon’s stability, prosperity, and unity” adding that the U.N. is satisfied with the cooperation between the Lebanese Army and the UNIFIL.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Tuesday that Lebanon is always committed to implementing international resolutions, including respecting the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was stipulated in a number of Lebanese government policy statements.

Miqati stressed that “if Lebanon does not secure the necessary funding for the STL, then the country will be the first victim”, adding that “We are on the verge of extending the STL work in March, and we should prepare our files to present it to the Security Council”.

Aoun renewed on Tuesday his opposition to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, rejecting attempts to fund it.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “Seeing as Prime Minister Najib Miqati and his brothers have amassed billions of dollars, then he can provide the $35 million Lebanon is obligated to pay to fund the tribunal.”

Hizbullah is preparing for a meeting between its Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, reported MTV on Tuesday.

It said that the visit would be aimed at repaying the patriarch for his recent stands and tour of southern Lebanon.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi revealed on Tuesday that he had requested from France that the excuses for Hizbullah to maintain its possession of arms be eliminated.

He said during the Dar al-Fatwa spiritual summit: “We requested French assistance in eliminating its excuses to keep its weapons and help in strengthening the Lebanese army because only then can we say that the party no longer needs its arms.”

The army was on Tuesday questioning an Israeli Arab who turned up on a beach in south Lebanon after swimming from Israel, a Lebanese security official said.

The National News Agency identified the man on Monday as Ahmed Jamal Daaif.