The Defense Office of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is set to include allegations by Bo Astrom to highlight the “flaws in the international investigation.”

An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday that the Astom's claims will be a rich material for the defense office, which will focus on the flaws of the investigation and to thwart off the theories adopted by Prosecutor Norman Farrell.

Turkish ambassador to Lebanon Inan Ozeldiz revealed on Monday that his country has steady contacts with Hizbullah, saying that the fate of the two kidnapped Orthodox bishops, who were seized in northern Syria in April.

“We don't agree with Hizbullah regarding the situation in Syria but it's a Lebanese party and we take it's point of view into consideration,” the ambassador said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel denied a report on Monday that a suspicious car was able to cross the Lebanese army's checkpoint in the southern city of Sidon following a clash.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon (100.5), Charbel said: “No suspicious vehicle crossed al-Awwali” bridge.

Speaker Nabih Berri ruled out on Monday reports saying that there is a dispute between him and President Michel Suleiman, describing the relations as “normal.”

“History repeats itself as the situation we're witnessing today is similar to the one we lived in 2007 with some simple differences,” Berri told local newspapers.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat reiterated that he was holding onto the formation of an all-embracing cabinet in which each of the rival camps would get nine ministers and centrists six.

“I am holding onto my stance in forming a consensual government based on the 9-9-6 formula,” Jumblat, a centrist, told As Safir daily published on Monday.

A Lebanese soldier opened fire Sunday at an Israeli vehicle in the Naqoura border area, killing an Israeli soldier, in an incident whose circumstances are still unclear.

And at around 1:00 a.m. Monday, LBCI television said the Israeli army retaliated by opening fire at the Lebanese General Security post at the Ras al-Naqoura border crossing.

Near-simultaneous attacks on two army checkpoints in Sidon – one of them involving a suicide bomber – left a soldier and four gunmen dead on Sunday evening.

In the first attack, an unidentified attacker hurled a hand grenade at an army checkpoint on Sidon's northern entrance in the al-Awwali area, prompting troops to retaliate, which left a gunman dead and a soldier wounded.

The head of the Levant Party – a mainly Greek Orthodox political group -- on Sunday announced “the beginning of an organized campaign” against Turkey's interests in Lebanon and the world in response to the abduction of the bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi and the Maalula nuns in Syria.

“We will fight alongside all the honorable people to preserve the diverse image of the Levant … We Christians had protected our Muslim brothers when they came under attacks and we will defend them today as well in the face of takfiris (Islamist extremists),” the party's leader Rodrigue Khoury said during a sit-in organized by his group outside the Turkish embassy in Rabieh.

A ceremony was held Sunday to light a huge Christmas tree in the northern city of Tripoli, in the presence of several religious, political and social figures.

“This city will preserve its name, image and history, despite all problems,” said Tripoli's Maronite Archbishop Georges Abu Jaoude.

Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan on Sunday hit back at President Michel Suleiman over his stance on the cabinet formation process, stressing that the issue does not only concern the president but rather all Lebanese.

“I don't understand the president's insistence on pushing the country to a risky venture, as it is very dangerous to hand the reins of the critical situations in Lebanon to a government that doesn't enjoy the parliament's confidence and that doesn't represent the legislature, regardless of its composition,” Arslan said before popular delegations that visited him at his residence.