Well-informed military sources have ruled out the possibility that the U.S. might decide to halt military assistance to the Lebanese army following the letter sent by the Congress to President Barack Obama’s administration in this regard in response to the formation of the new Lebanese cabinet, the Central News Agency reported Friday.

“A high-ranking Lebanese military delegation will visit Washington after the government gains (parliament’s) confidence … to provide the necessary clarifications and stress Lebanon’s commitment to the applicable international principles, resolutions and laws,” the agency noted.

U.S. authorities Thursday charged firms in France and the United Arab Emirates for conspiring to export components for attack helicopters and fighter jets to Iran without a license.

The Justice Department said that among the individuals and five corporate entities charged were Aerotechnic, based in Pinsaguel, France, its president Philippe Sanchez and sales manager Luc Teuly. They remain fugitives.

The United States voiced concern Wednesday over a ruling by a Bahraini court to sentence eight Shiite opposition activists to life in prison.

"We are concerned about the severity of the sentences handed down... in Bahrain. We're also concerned about the use of military courts to try these civilians," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Wednesday the need to devise the government’s policy statement saying that the cabinet has internal and external challenges to confront.

He said before MPs during his weekly meeting with them: “The main challenge it faces is being able to succeed.”

The 192-nation U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday elected Ban Ki-moon for a second term as the global body's secretary general.

The assembly unanimously backed the former South Korean foreign minister by acclamation. His second five-year term will start on January 1 and run through 2016.

President Barack Obama will "likely" withdraw about 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, with half coming out this summer and the remainder leaving later in 2011, a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday.

Another 20,000 troops, which formed part of a troop buildup ordered earlier by Obama, would be withdrawn by the end of 2012, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Agence France Presse.

President Barack Obama warned Monday that new "tactical" disagreements loomed between Israel and Washington, but vowed to leverage his administration's "creative powers" in the cause of peace.

Obama, who has had a testy relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke at length on the stalled peace process at a fundraiser for his 2012 reelection campaign grouping Democratic friends of Israel.

Former ambassador to China Jon Huntsman launched his 2012 White House bid Tuesday, calling for the United States to withdraw from overseas conflicts to rebuild "our core here at home."

"It's not that we wish to disengage from the world," Huntsman said as he formally fired up his campaign, "but rather that we believe the best national security strategy is rebuilding our core here at home."

The United States on Monday demanded "actions, not words" from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who said dialogue could lead to a new constitution and even end his Baath Party's monopoly on power.

"What's important now is action, not words," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said after Assad addressed the demands of pro-democracy protesters who have been violently repressed. "A speech is just words."

The U.S. Treasury targeted companies and individuals affiliated with Iran's national shipping line Monday with measures to isolate them from U.S. finance and commerce.

In slapping sanctions on 10 shipping companies and three individuals linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, the Treasury said it was "responding to Iran's continued efforts to evade sanctions and its ongoing creation and use of new front companies, subsidiaries and affiliates to protect IRISL and to advance its proliferation activities."