Head of Public Secondary School Education Teachers Association Hanna Gharib said on Friday that the cabinet's delay in referring the new wage scale for public employees to the parliament indicates that it's backing down on the draft law, warning the Syndicate Coordination Committee will enter an open-ended confrontation with the government.

“The cabinet imposed the battle and if it believe that it can break down or create a rift among the SCC then it are delusional,” Gharib said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday noted that Syrian President Bashar Assad is trying to “scare” Christians by claiming that Syria is the "last bastion of secularism, stability and coexistence in the region."

In an interview on the pan-Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera, Geagea called on Syria's Christians to "take part in the revolution in their country."

Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour on Thursday announced that the government is preparing the financial plan for settling the situations of Syrian and Palestinian refugees who have fled Syria's war to the safety of neighboring Lebanon.

“The crisis in Syria will not end soon and the influx of Syrian refugees is a fact that cannot be overlooked or neglected and the Lebanese state must fully shoulder its responsibility in this regard,” Abu Faour said after a meeting at the Grand Serail that was presided over by Prime Minister Najib Miqati and attended by Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, Education Minister Hassan Diab and High Relief Commission chief Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Bashir.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun congratulated on Thursday Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on his recent appointment as cardinal.

“We assure the people that stability in Lebanon will not be harmed,” he said after holding talks with the patriarch at Bkirki on the current political crisis in the country.

State commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Thursday a Lebanese man and two Syrians with helping three Fatah al-Islam inmates escape from Roumieh prison, the oldest and largest of Lebanon's overcrowded prisons.

The National News Agency reported that the three men were also charged with facilitating a prison break attempt for another inmate.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stated on Thursday that the dispute over the new wages scale should be resolved through calm discussions.

He said: “The dispute cannot be settled through negativity and escalation.”

Military Tribunal Judge Imad al-Zain requested the referral of 13 people, including 9 from al-

Meqdad family, to the court to be tried over an abduction spree of Syrians and Turkish nationals to avenge the kidnapping of Hassan al-Meqdad in Syria in August.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee staged a nationwide strike on Thursday to protest the cabinet's failure to refer the controversial new wages scale to the parliament for approval.

“The government backed down on its commitments... The SCC will escalate its endeavors,” head of Public Secondary School Education Teachers Association Hanna Gharib told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

Lebanon's political leaders hailed on Thursday the formation of the Petroleum Authority, the first major step in future oil exploration since parliament passed a law last year setting the country's maritime boundary and Exclusive Economic Zone.

The appointment of the six-member committee for a six year term by the cabinet on Wednesday “is more than important and comes as part of the government’s achievements,” Speaker Nabih Berri told An Nahar newspaper.

The cabinet on Wednesday approved the appointment of the six members of the petroleum authority as it failed anew to agree on the sources of funding for the new wage scale.

“The cabinet agreed on the following candidates for the petroleum authority: Nasser Hteit (Shiite), Walid Nasser (Greek Catholic), Wissam al-Zahabi (Sunni), Amin Ibrahim (Druze), Wissam Shbat (Maronite) and Gaby Daaboul (Greek Orthodox),” NBN television reported.