Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Tuesday stressed that Lebanon's borders will not be used to send weapons to Gaza, noting that Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah only voiced “political” remarks in this regard.

“The border will not be opened and Nasrallah's remarks are political remarks. Weapons will not be sent from Lebanon to Gaza,” Miqati said in response to a question during an interview with LBCI television in Paris where he is on an official visit.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday warned that “the accumulation of refugees” on Lebanon's border with Syria “poses a threat” to the country, adding that President Michel Suleiman must ask the Army Command about "its ability to defend the borders so that we come up with a vision for the defense strategy."

“I said in the past that the accumulation of refugees on the Lebanese border confirms that they are not all refugees and this poses a threat, especially if they are fighters taking part in the war in Syria,” Aoun warned after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabiyeh.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said Monday his movement is committed to efforts to secure a truce with Israel, but insisted the Jewish state must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"We are committed to a ceasefire, but Israel must stop its aggression," Meshaal said. “We don't want an escalation, because Hamas and all resistance factions are courageous but they are also rational," he added.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday called on the Arab countries to supply battered Gaza with weapons and use the factor of oil to pressure the U.S. and Europe into ending their support for Israel.

“The aggression started with the assassination of a major jihadist leader and several people were martyred or wounded amid a strong defiance by the resistance,” said Nasrallah in a televised address marking the first day of the Shiite Ashoura religious ceremonies.

Israel will take "whatever action is necessary" to defend its citizens from Palestinian rocket attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday as Gaza's Hamas rulers noted that the current conflict “will shorten the era of occupation.”

Netanyahu's remarks at a televised press conference in Tel Aviv came after Israel carried out 24 hours of air strikes on Gaza, killing 15 Palestinians, at least seven of them Hamas militants.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun demanded on Tuesday that whoever sparked Sunday's unrest in the southern city of Sidon be arrested.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: “Whoever created the instability should not be allowed to roam free.”

Damascus on Thursday lashed out at Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, saying he has “submitted his credentials to states and terrorist organizations that are seeking to destroy Syria.”

“Arabi is hallucinating about changing the political system of a founding state of the Arab League and he's only an employee who works for its states,” Syria's foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdisi said.

U.S. President Barack Obama said late Tuesday the American people have "picked ourselves up" and fought back during tough economic times, declaring after winning re-election that the "best is yet to come."

"In this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back," Obama said at a triumphant victory party in Chicago.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun criticized on Tuesday the March 14 camp's decision to boycott government work and national dialogue, blaming it for the repercussions of its actions.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: “Why are they carrying out the boycott? I do not understand. There is no need for dialogue now and the March 14 MPs should resign if they want to boycott parliament.”

A border clash between Lebanese security forces and a group of armed men crossing illegally into eastern Lebanon, left one dead, a security source and the National News Agency reported Thursday.

At 5:15 am a group of armed men drove their pick-up truck across the Syrian-Lebanese border near the town of Arsal in the eastern Bekaa valley, sparking a firefight, the official told Agence France Presse.