Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday accused the Hizbullah-led camp of “practicing hegemony over the State’s strategic decisions,” noting that “Hizbullah is not even willing to let its allies take part in these decisions.”

On the second day of his visit to Zahle and the Central Bekaa region, Geagea added: “Why would we engage in (national) dialogue if the other camp is insisting on its point of view regarding the issue of the strategic decisions.”

A dispute between young men from the Joud and Ismail families in the Akkar town of Sahlat al-Qammouha erupted into a fistfight that was followed by a grenade attack on the house of one of the quarrelling men in the Akkar town of Fnaideq, state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.

The quarrel and the grenade attack caused no casualties, NNA added.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi criticized on Sunday the political disputes in Lebanon that have crippled the country on the social and economic levels.

He said during his Sunday sermon: “We cannot accept the crippling of political life and its consequences on other fields in Lebanon.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is preparing to hold a meeting with Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to inform him of his foreign visits and explain his recent positions that contradict Hizbullah’s, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper on Sunday.

A leading March 14 camp official noted however that it is too soon to talk about Jumblat shifting his political positions.

France will retaliate “firmly” with any new attack against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, French sources told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published on Sunday.

“France is very upset with the recent attack against the international troops,” they added.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s circles voiced their satisfaction with international positions on the new government.

The premier had held talks on Saturday with Speaker Nabih Berri, in his first activity since returning to Lebanon from vacation.

Mustaqbal bloc MP Nohad al-Mashnouq described the government as being that of the suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri seeing as it includes Hizbullah members.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon released the first phase of its indictment in June, as well as arrest warrants against four Hizbullah members suspected of being involved in Hariri’s 2005 assassination.

Syrian President Bashar Assad requested from Energy Minister Jebran Bassil to allow Russian companies to handle drilling for oil and gas discovered in the Mediterranean Sea adjacent to Lebanon’s coast, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

It said that Assad made his request when he held talks with the Lebanese minister in Damascus on Monday.

Revealing the names of the suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is part of a routine procedure aimed at exhausting all methods to inform the public about suspects, explained legal sources to the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Sunday.

This way, the public is given the opportunity to report any sighting of the suspects, they added.

The head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora stated that the bloc supports national dialogue, but on condition that it have a purpose and be able to achieve its goals.

He told An Nahar daily in remarks published on Sunday: “This matter calls for restricting the talks to addressing Hizbullah’s possession of arms according to the dialogue that was held in March 2006.”