Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji was in Paris on Monday for talks with top French military officials two weeks after President Michel Suleiman announced a Saudi pledge of $3 billion to buy military equipment from France.

Al-Joumhouria daily quoted military sources as saying that Qahwaji has taken with him to Paris a list of the army's needs.

Ahmad Jarba, the leader of Syria's opposition National Coalition, said Sunday that the U.S.-led "Friends of Syria" grouping had agreed that President Bashar Assad and his family will have no role in the country's future.

Jarba did not announce whether or not the opposition would take part in peace talks with representatives of Assad's regime due to start next week in Switzerland.

The high demand on some of the military equipment pledged by Saudi Arabia to the Lebanese army will result in a short delay in delivering them to the military institution, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

A French source told the daily however that the Saudi grant will take effect “within a month.”

Saudi Arabia is quietly planning to raze slums in one of its largest cities to make way for newer, restored neighborhoods as part of a wider plan to keep up with soaring demand for affordable housing.

A gap between what is available on the market and what many Saudis can afford has left people frustrated and accusing the government of corruption. A shortage of low- and middle-income housing means millions of Saudis cannot afford to buy a home.

The corpse of Abdullah Azzam Brigades chief Majed al-Majed was handed over on Friday afternoon to the Saudi Embassy in Beirut, ahead of its repatriation to the kingdom.

“At 3:20 p.m., and following the authorization of the relevant judicial authority, the army's Medical Services handed over Majed al-Majed's body to a delegation from the Saudi embassy in Lebanon at the entrance of the Central Military Hospital,” a Lebanese army statement said.

Acting State Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud announced on Thursday that the report of the forensic panel has confirmed that Majed al-Majed had died of illness.

"The panel's report confirmed the first conclusion reached by the forensic doctor,” Hammoud told the state-run National News Agency, noting that the general prosecution will officially receive the new report on Friday morning.

Acting General Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud stated on Wednesday that the corpse of the “emir” of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades Majed al-Majed has not yet been handed over to his family in Saudi Arabia, reported the National News Agency.

He told NNA: “The findings of the autopsy report will determine whether he will be returned to his family.”

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour revealed on Wednesday that he had sent to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon a complaint over Israel's spying activities.

“We also prepared a CD that includes information on the procedures taken and the spying devices planted on the border with the occupied Palestinian territories, which is a clear violation of international law and a continuous attack on Lebanon, the Lebanese people and the country's security military and civil institutions,” Mansour detailed.

Saudi intelligence are involved in the deadly suicide bombing that targeted the Iranian embassy in southern Beirut and the resistance “will respond to the attack,” Iran's Fars news agency quoted an informed source as saying on Tuesday.

"Riyadh will pay the price doe its activities,” the source assured, explaining that Saudi Arabia is “carrying out such attacks because of its rage following its defeats in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.”

A U.N.-hosted peace conference on Syria must work to remove President Bashar Assad from power because of his culpability for tens of thousands of deaths, Turkey's Prime Minster said in Tokyo on Tuesday.

"In Geneva 2, we must make sure that... all the measures will not fail...so that we can (bring) in an era without Bashar Assad," he said, referring to peace talks planned later this month in Switzerland.