Families of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and soldiers wounded there in attacks allegedly linked to Iran and Hizbullah sued five European banks Monday, claiming their business with Iran helped finance the attacks.

HSBC, Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Barclays Bank were sued in the federal district court in Brooklyn, New York, over their already admitted banking business with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Ethiopian athlete Fikadu Girma won on Sunday the 2014 Banque du Liban Beirut international marathon.

He won the 42.195 kilometer race in 2:12.28.

The emir of Kuwait visited Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Friday in a bid to bring two of the Gulf's most powerful nations closer ahead of crucial talks next week.

Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, who is tasked with kick-starting rapprochement between Doha and its Gulf neighbors, met the Emirati vice president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi before talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Gulf news agencies reported.

At least 12 civilians, including women and children, were killed on Thursday when Syrian regime helicopters dropped explosive-packed barrel bombs on a district in Aleppo city, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack hit the Muwasalat district of Shaar neighborhood in the rebel-held east of the city.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea launched a scathing attack on Wednesday against the Change and Reform bloc led by MP Michel Aoun, accusing it of seeking to “change the political system” and noting that the LF voted for extending the parliament's term in order to prevent the fall of the state.

“It has become obvious that the aim of the Change and Reform bloc is toppling all state institutions as a prelude to changing the entire political system through a constituent assembly,” Geagea said at a press conference in Maarab, hours after the parliament voted to extend its own term for another 27 months.

Supporters of a pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah who has spent 30 years in French jail, were informed on Wednesday of a French court's decision on rejecting the ninth demand of his conditioned release.

They were notified at 3:45 pm during their sit-in in front of the French Embassy in Lebanon.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun reiterated Tuesday his rejection of the proposed extension of parliament's term, as he noted that Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea's initiative on the parliamentary and presidential polls is not “realistic.”

“It is well-known that we reject extension. However, there are misleading interpretations and the issue is being approached in a wrong manner, as there is nothing called vacuum in the Lebanese state,” said Aoun after the weekly meeting of his Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in Rabieh.

Shiites held Ashura processions on Tuesday in Beirut's southern suburbs and several towns in southern and eastern Lebanon as Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah dismissed Israeli threats as a source of concern.

“Israel's threats of another war on Lebanon do not stem from its power because it has lost hope and is concerned,” Nasrallah said in a televised address to hundreds of thousands of Shiites gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs following the Ashura march.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly ruled out the naturalization of Syrian refugees, denying international pressure to keep the displaced in Lebanon.

In remarks to As Safir daily published on Thursday, Plumbly said: “The issue of the naturalization of the Syrian refugees is out of the question.”

Lebanon suffers from severe gender inequality, according to the annual Gender Gap Index issued by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum on Tuesday.

The survey showed Lebanon falling to 135th place in the list of 142 nations after being ranked 123rd out of 136 countries surveyed last year.