President Michel Suleiman said he favors resolving the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms dispute by diplomatic means, but did not rule out the possibility that he could resort to military force if peaceful efforts fail.

Shebaa Farms "should be recovered through diplomatic means and implementation of the U.N. resolutions, particularly 1701," Suleiman said after separate meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of a Mediterranean summit in Paris on Sunday.

"But if diplomacy failed, then it's time for military operations," he warned, adding that Lebanon is "committed to regaining its full sovereignty over the Shebaa Farms."

On the issue of demarcating the Lebanese-Syrian borders, Suleiman said: "We look forward to tackling the topic through the required mechanism based on the brotherly relations between the two sisterly states."

In answering a question as to whether Lebanon would go into peace talks with Israel, Suleiman said: "We expect Israel to implement international resolutions, especially U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 that was adopted two years ago and Israel has not pulled out of the Ghajar (village) Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shouba hills."

Assad and Suleiman agreed to establish diplomatic relations, with Damascus and Beirut opening embassies in their respective countries for the first time in 64 years of independence from French mandate.

The historic agreement was declared Saturday evening by Assad and Suleiman, in a joint press conference with their French and Qatari counterparts, Nicolas Sarkozy and Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, respectively.

At his Paris hotel, Assad on Sunday met Ban, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and, for the second time in less than 24 hours, Suleiman.