BEIRUT, Lebanon (Lebanonwire) -- Like a busy bee tending to the needs of its hive, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora will in the next 48 hours visit Qatar and France and tackle a number of issues starting with economic aid to Lebanon, the Palestinian situation, UN 1559 and finally the UN 1595 report on the Rafik Hariri murder probe, Al Mustaqbal daily reported Sunday.

Only five days separate Lebanese and Syrians from a much-anticipated UN report by its chief investigator Detlev Mehlis, and already tensions and the war of words have reached epic proportions between the two neighbors.

“Lebanon is on the threshold of a new phase,” said a relaxed Siniora prior to his shuttle visits to Qatar and France. “Extending Mehlis’s mission to December 15 is not an expansion to the crisis; just the contrary.”

Siniora said that Lebanon would like the UN team to remain in place until Lebanon had ample time to study the report.

“Perhaps the death of Ghazi Kanaan is related somehow, which will certainly have repercussions but we will have to wait and see how things develop,” Siniora said and added “regardless of what the report’s findings are, our relations with Syria should be maintained on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”

Kanaan, described as the “viceroy” of Lebanon for over 20 years, died earlier this week from an apparent suicide, however most Lebanese discredit the Syrian official line believing he was instead murdered to bury damaging secrets related to the UN investigation.

Following Siniora’s visit to Qatar on Sunday, where he will hold discussions on backing Lebanon’s reform agenda with Prince sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifah and a number of ministers there, the prime minister will then head to France, where on Monday he will meet with top French, UN and Palestinian officials.

“We will look to finalize the issue of removing Palestinian weapons outside the camps and regulating it within them, however we have separated that track from the social and humanitarian aspects of the Palestinian refugees, which is in no way tied to any negotiations on arms and security,” Siniora said.

A few days earlier, Siniora met with Richard Cook, UNRWA’s director of operations to discuss improving the living conditions inside the refugee camps.

In France, Siniora is set to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin and Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, who will also present his report on the progress of UN 1559, the resolution calling for the removal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the disarming of all militia groups.

De Villepin is expected to inform Siniora of his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezaa Rice on the developments and expectations stemming from Mehlis’s report.

Meanwhile, the Future Movement MPs held a meeting Saturday where they described the Mehlis report as a “historical occasion to reinforce national unity on the basis of uncovering the truth and achieving justice.”

The gathering expressed its full support and confidence in the UN mission and denounced anyone who believed that the UN report’s findings is tantamount to announcing a new era of crisis in Lebanon. “We also reject the vicious campaign the Syrian media has launched against Saad Hariri and Lebanese media, with all the insinuations and embedded threats that it carried, reflecting the hightened level of tension and anxiety that exists there,” the MPs announced.

On Thursday, Ath Thawra Syrian newspaper accused majority Parliament and Future Movement leader Saad Hariri of assassinating his own father Rafik Hariri, so as to inherit his money and power.

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