The Saudi foreign ministry issued on Monday a travel restriction advisory to Lebanon, the official SPA news agency said.

“Due to the unstable security situation in Lebanon, the foreign ministry warns its citizens against traveling to Lebanon to maintain their safety, until further notice,” an unidentified high-ranking official in the ministry told the news agency.

Deputy head of Hizbullah's Executive Council Sheikh Nabil Qaouq accused on Monday some sides of seeking to change Lebanon and Syria’s identity through their criticism of the resistance and its arms.

He said: “Their focus on the resistance’s arms at this point in time is aimed at diverting attention from their smuggling of weapons to Syria.”

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly stated on Monday that U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon calls on Syria to respect its border with Lebanon following a new security incident.

The secretary-general’s report on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 addressed the general issue of the importance of all parties respecting Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and specifically called on Syria to respect the border, Plumbly told reporters following talks with Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour in response to a question on Monday’s cross-border attack in northern Lebanon.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel revealed on Monday that an Internal Security Forces officer and a delegation of Salafist clerics visited Turkey to follow up the efforts underway to release 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria in May.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3), Charbel said the ISF officials and the Salafist Sheikhs went to Ankara to follow up with Turkish authorities the case of the 11 men.

President Michel Suleiman slammed on Monday the Syrian security forces’ detention of two general security members from Lebanon, deeming the action a violation of international law.

Syrian security forces infiltrated the northern region of Wadi Khaled on Monday and detained two general security members for an hour, several media outlets reported.

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon spokesperson Andrea Tenenti denied on Monday that the dispute which took place during the weekend between several Irish contingent troops and civilians, is linked to the incidents that targeted the UNIFIL in the past few years.

“It’s an individual incident, the contingent wasn’t attacked or subjected to any violence,” Tenenti told the pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat.

National Struggle Front bloc leader Walid Jumblat recommended the parliament on Monday to adopt the suggestions of the March 14 opposition on the controversial extra-budgetary spending of 2012.

In remarks to As Safir daily, Jumblat said his stance from the cabinet’s bill is “not negative.” But he has been informed about the remarks of the opposition al-Mustaqbal bloc “which I think should be taken into consideration to guarantee the legality of the bill.”

The parliament on Monday approved a draft law on hiring Electricité du Liban contract workers on a full-time basis.

The candidates will have to take part in a closed contest organized and supervised by the Civil Service Board, state-run National News Agency reported.

Meetings in parliament on the sidelines of the legislative session on Monday enabled the rival political parties of reaching an agreement over the controversial issue of financial spending following months of political quarrelling.

The deal on the LL11 billion bill was reached after some amendments were agreed.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour was informed Sunday that a four-member International Criminal Court team comprising Lebanese national Helene Assaf, detained in Libya since weeks, will be released soon.

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, the ICC members are in good health and will be transferred from Zintan area, where they are being held, to Tripoli and later to Rome.