Iran is ready to help "train" the Syrian army if Damascus seeks such assistance, the commander of the Islamic republic's army ground forces, General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, was quoted as saying on Sunday.

"As a Muslim nation, we back Syria, and if there is need for training we will provide them with the training, but won't have any active involvement in the operations," he said in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour asked Lebanon's ambassador to the U.N. late Saturday to file an “urgent” complaint with the Security Council over Israel's violations of Lebanese airspace.

A statement said that Mansour asked Nawwaf Salam to submit the complaint against Israel “over its flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and related international resolutions mainly resolution 1701.”

Israeli warplanes struck areas in and around the Syrian capital Sunday, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be on their way to Hizbullah, officials and activists said.

The attack, the second in three days, signaled a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. Syria's state media reported that Israeli missiles struck a military and scientific research center near the Syrian capital and caused casualties.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour denounced on Saturday Israeli violations of Lebanon's airspace, considering that they come in context of the continuous aggressive acts that violates the country's sovereignty.

“These violations will not change Israel's violent nature that we are used to,” Mansour said.

An Israeli airstrike against Syria was targeting a shipment of advanced missiles bound for Hizbullah in Lebanon, Israeli officials confirmed Saturday.

It was the second Israeli strike this year against Syria and the latest salvo in its long-running effort to disrupt Hizbullah's quest to build an arsenal capable of defending against Israel's air force and spreading destruction inside the Jewish state.

President Michel Suleiman urged the international community on Friday to pressure Israel to stop violating Lebanese airspace, saying its activities breach the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.

Suleiman's condemnation comes after Israeli warplanes flew over Lebanese territories earlier on Friday.

Internet giant Google has recognized the Palestinians' upgraded U.N. status, placing the name "Palestine" on its search engine instead of "Palestinian Territories," the U.S. company said on Friday, raising the ire of Israel.

The domain name www.google.ps, Google's search engine for the territories, now brings up a homepage with "Palestine" written underneath the Google logo.

International ratings agency Standard and Poor's has lowered its long- and short-term local currency sovereign credit ratings for Israel , while maintaining its foreign currency rating and predicting a stable outlook.

The local currency rating slipped from AA-/A-1+ to A+/A-1, while the foreign currency ratings remain at A+/A-1, S&P said on Thursday.

The United States still hopes a conference aimed at creating a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East can take place soon, a high-level U.S. official said Friday, urging regional players to cooperate.

"I think it could be very soon, if the will exists among the regional parties to engage with each other and to respect each others' needs," said Thomas Countryman, U.S. assistant secretary of international security and nonproliferation.

Most Israelis are sceptical that the Arab League's modification of its plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will bear fruit, according to a poll published in a Tel Aviv newspaper on Friday.

Asked if they saw a revised Arab offer of full diplomatic ties in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from land occupied in 1967, with mutually agreed land swaps with the Palestinians, sparking new peace talks, 54.8 percent of respondents answered "no", the Israel Hayom freesheet said.