The Lebanese Forces on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Energy Minister Jebran Bassil on charges of criminal defamation, the party announced in a statement.

It said that it filed the lawsuit over the minister’s remarks to al-Akhbar newspaper on April 23 in which he accused the March 14 forces of “preparing to kick off a new wave of political assassinations in Lebanon.”

Traffic was halted for two hours at Rafik Hariri International Airport as employees joined the strike of the General Labor Confederation, causing delays in several flights.

The National News Agency said seven departing and arriving flights were affected by the strike of Middle East Airlines employees that started at 11:00 am.

A cabinet session that was scheduled to be held at Baabda Palace on Thursday was postponed despite Deputy Prime Minister Samir Moqbel’s pledges to hold the meeting to settle controversial issues.

“It is necessary to hold it to settle several important issues,” Moqbel told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) ahead of the postponement announcement.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat held Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui responsible for halting the investigations concerning the attempted assassination of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

Jumblat told al-Akhbar newspaper that Sehnaoui is responsible for preventing the security authorities from acquiring the telecom data to continue the probe into Geagea’s murder attempt.

Claims made by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour that a Syrian official has expressed frustration at the government’s alleged lack of commitment to agreements signed between the two countries angered ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, An Nahar reported Thursday.

The newspaper quoted Mansour as telling a cabinet session held at the Grand Serail on Wednesday that a “high-ranking Syrian official” had expressed frustration at the government’s performance in terms of the agreements.

A strike called for by the General Labor Confederation on Thursday went ahead as scheduled with several unions joining the protests including the public transportation drivers, the Middle East Airlines employees, the port, and the National Social Security Fund.

“The protesters will not block the roads. We are against the cabinet’s policy that didn’t tackle during its last two sessions the demands of laborers,” head of GLC Ghassan Ghosn told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman held talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace on Thursday.

The U.S. official stressed the United States’ support for Lebanon’s independence, sovereignty, and stability.

The cabinet on Wednesday postponed the discussion of the issue of raising the minimum wage for public sector employees to a session that will be held on Thursday, as Prime Minister Najib Miqati hailed “the Lebanese army’s security achievement” of seizing an arms shipment in Lebanon’s territorial waters.

“The achievement is an implementation of the decisions of the political authority and an evidence on the Lebanese army’s readiness and its permanent vigilance that is aimed to preserve security and forbid any sort of trafficking operations,” Miqati said during the session.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday accused Hizbullah and “the Aounist top brass” of being involved in the recent attempt on his life “through their role in misleading the investigation,” revealing that the March 14 forces will soon submit a draw law authorizing government to resort to extra-budgetary spending under certain conditions.

Speaking to reporters following talks with visiting Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman in Maarab, Geagea said: “The March 14 forces will submit a draft law that would authorize government to resort to extra-budgetary spending under extraordinary circumstances and within a period not exceeding 30 days, on condition that it pledges to submit a draft state budget to parliament.”

Two people were killed and five others wounded on Wednesday as a dispute between two families erupted into a full-blown armed clash in the Akkar town of Fnaideq in northern Lebanon.

“Brothers Ahmed and Khaldoun al-Tarsha (aka Taleb) were killed and their father Mohammed and brother Ali were wounded in an exchange of gunfire between members from the families of Taleb and al-Kik in the Akkar town of Fnaideq,” reported state-run National News Agency.