Lebanese security sources have denied media reports that several people were arrested in connection with the roadside bombing that targeted a UNIFIL convoy in southern Lebanon last week.

The sources told As Safir daily published Tuesday that neither Lebanese nor Palestinians were in the custody of any security or military apparatus.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat condemned Friday’s attack against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, wondering whether the timing was connected to “very sensitive” political situation on the internal and regional scenes.

He asked in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Was the attack aimed at pressuring the participating countries in UNFIL to lower the number of troops who have played a major role in implementing U.N. Security Council resolution 1701?”

Speaker Nabih Berri lamented that the attack on a peacekeeping patrol on Friday came due to a political vacuum.

“The attack that targeted international troops in Rmeileh is very dangerous and should push us towards speeding up the formation of the cabinet because the vacuum is paving way for security violations,” Berri told As Safir newspaper published Monday.

Caretaker Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas refused to describe a decision for the Lebanese army to take control of a telecom building in Beirut’s Adliyeh area as a settlement.

“What happened is a victory of the logic of the state and the law and not (a victory) of a person or a party,” Nahhas told As Safir daily in remarks published Saturday.

The March 14 forces and Hizbullah have engaged in a war of words over the “militia practices” in the facility affiliated with the telecommunications ministry in Beirut’s Adliyeh area on Thursday.

The March 14 general-secretariat said in a statement on Saturday in reference to Hizbullah that “the militia” which turned its arms against the Lebanese during the May 7, 2008 events and carried out a “coup” against Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s government in January this year “does not have the right to accuse anyone of making a coup against the state and its institutions.”

Diplomatic sources have hinted about Syria's involvement in the roadside bomb that ripped through a U.N. convoy in southern Lebanon on Friday after threats by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem that the European Union would regret its sanctions against President Bashar Assad.

The sources told An Nahar and al-Joumhouria dailies on Saturday that the bombing came after Muallem threatened that “Syria will not remain silent” to the EU measures against Assad.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that his country is seeking a proper way to reduce its peacekeeping unit in Lebanon and it is discussing the issue with the concerned parties, news agencies reported.

“We intent on carrying out this decision, we will find the proper way to do it,” Frattini said.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) commemorated on Friday the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, remembering colleagues who lost their lives in the line of duty and celebrating their contributions to peace.

A ceremony was held at UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura to mark the international day that is observed every year on 29 May.

A U.S. Army Brigadier General has asked for clarifications from the Lebanese army leadership on the incident in the border town of Maroun al-Ras on Nakba Day, a U.S. embassy statement said.

John W. Charlton, the Deputy Director for Middle East Political-Military Affairs in the Policy and Plans Directorate of the Joint Staff in the Pentagon, visited Lebanon on May 19-20 to hold discussions with the Lebanese army leadership on bilateral military programs, it said.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said that the Lebanese government crisis isn’t witnessing any breakthrough, which is affecting the economic sector.

Williams told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Friday that the tourism season in Lebanon isn’t promising this year, hotel and flight reservations are deteriorating and most tourists come from neighboring Arab countries.