Lebanon has submitted a request to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to extend the term of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon in accordance with Security Council resolution 1701, reported al-Mustaqbal daily on Sunday.

Diplomatic sources expected the Security Council to take a decision on the matter in late August.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji returned to Lebanon on Friday after a four-day visit to France where he met with a number of French military officials including Chief of Staff Edouard Guillaud, reported the daily An Nahar Sunday.

The Army Command said in a statement that Qahwaji toured a number of French military bases, with talks with French officials focusing on the French unit in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and bilateral ties between the two armies.

U.S. official Frederic Hof is making routine visits to Beirut to follow up the dispute between Lebanon and Israel on their maritime borders, Western diplomatic sources in Beirut said Friday.

The sources told As Safir daily that Hof is visiting Lebanon along with cartographers in an expression of Washington’s interest in solving the feud over oil and natural fields and setting the stage for possible U.S. investments in the sector in the future.

Speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday that Lebanon won’t forget the United Nations Interim in Lebanon Force’s sacrifices for Lebanon.

He made his statement during a meeting with U.N. Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) chief Juha Kilpiä and an accompanying delegation.

An agreement signed between the government of French Premier Francois Fillon and that that of former PM Saad Hariri to provide the Lebanese army with missiles has been temporarily suspended, revealed French sources to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Thursday.

They said that the French government suspended it in order to determine a clear position from Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s cabinet, which Paris believes was formed at Syria and Hizbullah’s bidding.

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Commander Major General Alberto Asarta revealed that he suggested that the international force act as a mediator between Lebanon and Israel in demarcating the maritime border.

He told Al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published on Thursday that he hopes that this issue will be resolved during his tenure and that efforts would be made to completely designate the Blue Line as well.

The March 14 general-secretariat hinted on Wednesday that national dialogue became useless after the Syria-Hizbullah alliance decided on behalf of the Lebanese to prevent the state from owning arms.

“Dialogue became useless after three years of time wasting and after the regional-local axis decided on behalf of the Lebanese what their state should not possess,” the general-secretariat said following its weekly meeting.

A delegation of European Union ambassadors stressed on Monday the need for Lebanon to fully implement United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 as stipulated in its government’s ministerial statement.

It welcomed in a statement after visiting the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon headquarters at Ras al-Naqoura the cabinet’s commitment to cooperating with the international force.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams announced on Monday that he will bring up the issue of Lebanon’s demarcation of its maritime border at the United Nations on Thursday.

He said after holding talks with Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour: “Lebanon must have access to its natural resources and must benefit from them and I want to see there is a law on exploration and exploitation fully implemented and foreign oil companies coming to Lebanon.”

The willingness to achieve a stage of permanent ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel is still in the process of discussions, European sources in Beirut told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

They said the test of intentions would later lead to Lebanese-Israeli negotiations under the sponsorship of UNIFIL to reach a mechanism that would pave way for permanent ceasefire.