The Turkish part of Cyprus has warned the island’s Greek side and Israel against a unilateral decision to invest oil and natural gas in their territorial waters, saying Lebanon should not go ahead in approving a deal signed with the Cypriot government.

In December, Jerusalem reached an agreement with Cyprus marking the two countries’ sea borders. That agreement came after Cyprus reached a similar understanding four years ago with Lebanon, though that pact has yet to be approved in the Lebanese parliament.

March 14 general secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid said on Monday that the Jbeil District town of Lassa is worried after the assault on a Maronite team tasked with surveying lands and reporters.

Soaid told Free Lebanon radio that the statements of the deputy leader of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council, Abdul Amir Qabalan, proved that this issue is bigger than a dispute over land.

The cabinet has frozen a decision to appoint a new airport security chief for unknown reasons, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat said Monday, hinting that foreign parties prevented the nomination of a Christian Brig. Gen. from Koura to the post.

The newspaper said that Interior Minister Marwan Charbel handed Premier Najib Miqati a decree signed by Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn nominating the unidentified Brig. Gen. to the post of Rafik Hariri international airport security chief to replace Brig. Gen. Wafiq Shoqeir.

Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour said on Monday that the cabinet’s behavior and balanced performance will help in creating a suitable environment for launching dialogue.

“We’re following this principle to deal with each other within the government,” he told An Nahar newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said he would think twice before attending another meeting of the country’s Maronite leaders at the seat of the patriarchate in Bkirki.

In an interview with al-Joumhouria daily published Monday, Geagea said: “The first experience wasn’t encouraging.”

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Monday the importance of launching a national dialogue between different parties, reiterating his readiness to participate in the dialogue.

“We have our political disputes (in Lebanon) but there’s no enmity, therefore launching dialogue is a normal issue, especially because we’re passing through a critical stage,” Berri told Ad-Diyar newspaper.

Former Premier Saad Hariri is expected to return to Beirut from France next week to attend Iftar banquets, sources close to the Mustaqbal movement leader told An Nahar daily Monday.

Hariri “will return to Lebanon in the first days of the month of Ramadan early August to be present in a series of Iftars held at the BIEL exhibition center rather than Qoreitem where Iftars were held in previous years,” the sources said.

A clash erupted on Sunday in the capital Beirut between anti-Syrian regime protesters and demonstrators loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, MTV reported.

The two sides used batons and rocks in the confrontation that broke out in the vicinity of the Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut, MTV added.

Head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, stressed Sunday “the Resistance’s readiness to perform its duty.”

“We’re not the side entitled to demarcate our territorial waters, the (Lebanese) State is rather the side entitled to do that, but should this maritime zone come under any threat, danger or attack from the Israeli enemy, the Resistance will be ready to perform its duty,” Raad vowed.

Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi warned Sunday that “ruling out (national) dialogue means seeking the other option, which is to transform disagreement into a conflict that may take various forms.”

“Lebanon’s pluralistic nature necessitates that dialogue be an ordinary and normal thing,” Moussawi added.