The formation of an oil authority is absent from the agenda of a cabinet session on Friday but progress is being made to speed up exploration of potential offshore gas and oil reserves.

The authority is tasked with overseeing the petroleum sector for the purpose of exploring the reserves.

The government of Premier Najib Miqati resumes its meetings on Friday after a 17-day break to discuss a series of administrative and financial issues that are not controversial.

Friday’s session at the Grand Serail includes 50 items on its agenda. But the cabinet will most likely not be able to deal with them in one day which prompted Miqati to ask the general-secretariat to set a date for another session next Wednesday.

A “disgust” expressed by Speaker Nabih Berri and the “negative distinction” caused by Phalange MP Sami Gemayel were the major highlights of the last day of a parliamentary session that led to the government’s survival of a vote of confidence.

The three-day session that ended after midnight Thursday included 30 hours of statements by 62 MPs and responses by five members of the cabinet and Premier Najib Miqati. Among the 62 lawmakers, 34 were from the March 14-led opposition and 28 were members of the Hizbullah-led March 8 coalition.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Hizbullah and other Iranian proxies would suffer if Syrian President Bashar Assad was overthrown.

"Assad's fall would be a major blow to Iran... it would weaken dramatically both Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. It would be very positive," Barak told CNN on Thursday.

The government on Thursday survived a vote of no confidence in parliament, amid a walkout by March 14 MPs and the presence of the Phalange bloc.

The vote of no confidence was requested by Phalange bloc MP Sami Gemayel, who withheld confidence in the government along with only two other lawmakers.

Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, ex-PM Fouad Saniora, on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government as “not useful for anything,” accusing it of “jeopardizing the country.”

“Miqati bowed to regional desires that coincided with the interests of” Hizbullah upon the formation of the government, Saniora said, during the third round of parliamentary debate over the government’s policies.

MP Mohammed Raad, head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc, on Thursday strongly defended Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government against the opposition’s fierce criticism, during the third round of parliamentary debate over the government’s policies.

Hitting back at lawmakers who criticized Hizbullah’s controversial arsenal of weapons in their speeches, Raad said: “We reiterate that questioning the Resistance's legitimacy is against national principles, as dialogue needs confidence and building confidence requires putting an end to lies and to scaring people with the Resistance and its arms.”

Phalange bloc MP Sami Gemayel on Thursday announced that he withholds confidence from Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government, during the third round of parliamentary debate over the government’s policies.

“We withhold confidence from this government and this is our democratic duty and everyone must shoulder their responsibilities,” Gemayel said.

Around 20 inmates rioted at the Baalbek prison to protest the delay in their trials, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

“The prisoners are rioting in protest against the postponement of their trials, which is delaying the verdicts, as well as the absence of any medical care,” the NNA said.

March 14 opposition lawmakers continued their criticism of the cabinet on the third and last day of a parliamentary session aimed at assessing the performance of Premier Najib Miqati’s government.

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said in his statement to the assembly that almost a year after its formation and after holding 50 sessions, “this cabinet was mainly ruled by disputes between its members.”