A unit from the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch raided a car repair shop in the town of Ghaza in the Western Bekaa arresting four people for suspected links to the kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists in March.

The National News Agency said Wednesday that three of the suspects are Lebanese while the other is Syrian.

Parliament endorsed on Thursday an electricity draft law that was approved a day earlier by the joint parliamentary committees based on a proposal made by Speaker Nabih Berri and rejected by MP Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc.

Aoun expressed reservations on the bill during the session. He had met with Berri ahead of the legislature’s meeting.

A tense atmosphere from a meeting of joint parliamentary committees on the electricity project spilled into the cabinet on Wednesday amid reported verbal clashes between Change and Reform bloc ministers on one side and Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil.

Media reports said that during a government session held at the Grand Serail an argument erupted between Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas and Khalil, who is Speaker Nabih Berri’s aide, after the Change and Reform bloc minister described a decision reached at the committees meeting as “dissent.”

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed that he will not back down on the consensus reached over the electricity bill that he suggested during Wednesday’s joint parliamentary committees meeting.

“The electricity plan will be subjected to vote during today’s (Thursday’s) parliamentary session,” Berri told As Safir newspaper on Thursday.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton on Wednesday told Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi that the French authorities were “pleased to host him” during his recent trip to Paris.

A statement issued by the French embassy following a visit by Pietton to the seat of the Maronite church in Bkirki said the ambassador told al-Rahi his visit to France “confirms the perpetuation of a tradition that reflects the steady, immune relations with the Maronite patriarchate, which represents … an important national authority in Lebanon.”

President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday stressed Lebanon’s commitment to international legitimacy and the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was established in 2007 by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1757 to try those responsible for the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

Speaking at the opening of the annual U.N. General Assembly summit of world leaders, Suleiman said: “According to its constitution, Lebanon is a democratic, parliamentary republic built upon freedom of expression and belief and its people is the source of authority.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun noted on Wednesday that the fall of the Syrian regime will not benefit Christians or Muslims, saying that the solution to the crisis lies in change and stability.

He told UPI: “Should the Syrian regime be overthrown, then the Christians and Muslims won’t have any freedom.”

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams voiced on Wednesday his satisfaction that parliament will tackle on Thursday the electricity draft law, hoping that it would lead to addressing other important issues.

MP Robert Ghanem announced on Wednesday that an agreement was reached to adopt the government’s version of the electricity draft law.

He said after a meeting for the parliamentary joint committees that the law will be referred to parliament where it will be subject to a vote on Thursday.

The March 14 General Secretariat criticized on Wednesday the government’s stalling practices, saying that they will only lead Lebanon to further crises that are being run by regional powers “that are not part of international legitimacy.”

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “Seeing as Lebanon is heading the United Nations Security Council, President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati should fulfill their pledges and completely commit to resolutions on Lebanon.”