Unknown assailants on Monday assassinated a high-ranking Fatah Movement official in the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon.

“Fatah Movement official Brig. Gen. Jamil Zeidan died of his wounds after he was shot by unidentified gunmen in the al-Fawqani area,” state-run National News Agency said.

The United Nations protested Wednesday that its envoy to the tense Ukrainian region of Crimea had been threatened by unidentified armed men, but denied reports he had been kidnapped.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told reporters Robert Serry had been accosted by gunmen outside naval headquarters in Simferopol and warned "he should leave Crimea."

Israel said Wednesday it fired at and hit two members of Hizbullah as they tried to plant a bomb near the Israeli-Syrian border, but Syrian state media accused the Jewish state of targeting its forces.

"Earlier today, two Hizbullah-affiliated terrorists were identified attempting to plant an explosive device near the Israel-Syria border in the northern Golan Heights,” the army said in a statement.

Lebanon's "state-sponsored amnesia" towards its 15-year civil war has left communities segregated and without justice or reconciliation, a non-governmental organization reported Tuesday.

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) said real peace and reconciliation in Lebanon requires "meaningful accountability" for violence during the war and "institutional reform."

Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun urged on Tuesday the panel tasked with drafting a government policy statement to complete its mission soon in order to allow the staging of the presidential elections.

He rejected the ongoing debate among its members over references to the resistance, saying: “The resistance does not need the recognition of any side.”

The U.S. and Russian foreign ministers will attend French-sponsored talks in Paris Wednesday on helping Lebanon cope with the conflict in Syria, but the talks look set to be overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis, France said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was scheduled to come for the meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon meeting but French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday that Russia's Sergei Lavrov would also attend the conference.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea slammed on Thursday a ministerial policy statement that seeks to respect all parties' stances, stating that “the problem lies in Hizbullah's fighting in Syria and that this reality must change.”

“Any talks to overcome the current security situation in the country necessitates a change in the reality of things and this is what's expected from the new cabinet. Any cabinet should adopt new policies,” Geagea said during a press conference held in Maarab.

Google paid tribute to late Lebanese actor Hassan Alaa Eddine on Wednesday, replacing the logo on its homepage with an image of the man marking his 75th birthday.

Google replaced the first 'O' in the company's name with a picture of Alaa Eddine with his famous mustache, and added the icon of what is known as “tarboosh” on top of the last letter.

At least six people were killed when a car bomb exploded at a border crossing between Syria and Turkey on Thursday, a Turkish official told Agence France Presse.

The official said the bomb detonated on the Syrian side of the Bab al-Salama crossing, adding that 45 people were wounded.

Bulgaria's chief prosecutor says investigators have identified a fourth person they think was involved in the July 2012 bomb attack that killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian bus driver.

Sotir Tsatsarov told reporters Thursday that because of the new evidence, the indictment will be delayed.