Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun have resolved their dispute over the oil file, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Saturday.

It said that the two sides agreed to issue contracts over the oil fields adjacent to the Israeli blocks after the speaker had warned that the neighboring state could exploit Lebanon's offshore wealth.

Iran's visiting Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Monday that Hizbullah is an active movement and plays a positive role in the region.

“Some movements are more effective than states. Hizbullah is an example. It plays a positive role in the region,” he said.

The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution Friday asking Israel to pay Lebanon over $850 million in damages for an oil spill caused by an Israeli air force attack on oil storage tanks during its war with Hizbullah in July 2006.

The assembly voted 170-6 in favor of the resolution, with three abstentions. Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and Marshall Islands voted "no."

Moody's Investors Service downgraded on Tuesday Lebanon's government bond ratings to B2 from B1 and maintained the negative outlook.

The key drivers of the rating action according to Moody's are the rise in the main government debt metrics, the harmful repercussions of the spillover from the Syrian crisis on government finances, economic growth and political stability.

The Lebanese army foiled an infiltration attempt overnight when some gunmen tried to infiltrate the outskirts of Ras Baalbek and Wadi Rafek near of al-Qaa, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.

Lebanese troops engaged in heavy armed clashes with the infiltrators, NNA added.

Miss South Africa, 22-year-old Rolene Strauss, was crowned Miss World 2014 at the pageant's final in London on Sunday, with an estimated billion viewers watching on television around the globe.

Miss Hungary, Edina Kulcsar, was the runner-up and Miss United States, Elizabeth Safrit, came third in the 64th annual competition, contested by women from 121 countries.

The controversial and outspoken Druze leader Walid Jumblat called in a "joint statement" on Twitter Saturday for the cultivation of marijuana to be legalized.

"It's time to allow hash to be grown and to overturn arrest warrants against people sought for doing so," the veteran politician wrote in Arabic on his Twitter account.

Security measures throughout Lebanon will be intensified during the Christmas and New Year holiday period, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

A widely-informed source told the daily: “This is a critical stage and security measures will be bolstered in all Lebanese regions without exception.”

Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Jan Eliasson is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Sunday on a three-day visit aimed at discussing the case of Syrian refugees, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

Eliasson will arrive on Sunday for talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, and a number of high-ranking officials.

Swiss authorities have charged a fugitive banking analyst with data theft and their transfer to several institutions abroad, including Lebanese banks, in what is considered to be one of the biggest security breaches in the country's often-secretive banking sector.

The case of Herve Falciani, a former employee of global banking group HSBC, has been making headlines in Europe since he fled Switzerland in 2008. He has been accused of stealing information between 2006 and 2007 relating to 24,000 customers of the Swiss division of HSBC.