U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim Robert Watkins said Thursday that Hizbullah has stressed the need to continue its dialogue with the world body.

In remarks to al-Mustaqbal daily, Watkins said that despite the party’s frustration from some of the remarks made by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon during his visit to Beirut last month, Hizbullah has expressed its respect for “the integrity of the U.N. and the necessity to keep the dialogue open.”

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil slammed on Thursday the decision taken by Prime Minister Najib Miqati over the appointment of top civil servants in the state.

“We refuse to become part of those who consider what the PM demands is sacred and the cabinet should abide by it, especially regarding the appointments issue,” Bassil told An Nahar newspaper.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed that the suspension of cabinet sessions falls within his constitutional rights, noting that he aims to push all the members to act responsibly and positively.

Miqati said on his twitter account after the president decided to suspend session at Baabda palace under the premier’s request that the suspension “falls within the PM's Constitutional prerogatives, especially when there's quorum.”

Four gunmen kidnapped a Syrian businessman as he crossed into Lebanon from the Masnaa border checkpoint in the Bekaa valley on Wednesday, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said that the four men intercepted the BMW 530 of Mohammed al-Jabi, 55, and kidnapped him at gunpoint. The car’s Syrian license plate is 976145.

The head of the Democratic Renewal Movement, former MP Nassib Lahoud, passed away at dawn Thursday after a long battle with illness. He was 68.

Lahoud, who was a lawmaker between 1991 and 2005, died at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Ashrafiyeh.

The Trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has decided to try the four men accused in the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri in absentia, the STL said on Wednesday in a statement.

“The Trial Chamber examined numerous documents from the Tribunal's Prosecutor (Daniel Bellemare) and the Lebanese Prosecutor-General (Saeed Mirza), which detail the steps taken by the Lebanese authorities to apprehend the accused and inform them about the proceedings,” the Hague-based court said.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Wednesday threatened to boycott cabinet sessions if a dispute over the issue of administrative appointments was not resolved, after the Free Patriotic Movement ministers walked out from Wednesday’s session prompting its suspension.

The cabinet, however, managed to reach an agreement over the controversial issue of telecom data before the session was adjourned.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday stressed Syria’s “keenness on Lebanon’s stability” during a meeting in Damascus with Arab Tawhid Party leader Wiam Wahhab, the party’s media department said in a statement.

The two men discussed the situations in Lebanon and the Arab region during their “three-hour meeting,” the party added.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil hailed on Wednesday what he called the “positive gesture” of the cabinet to lease power-generating ships to help reduce severe electricity rationing in the country.

“What happened yesterday was a good gesture by the government in terms of reforming the electricity” sector, Bassil said in a press conference.

The March 14 General Secretariat praised on Wednesday the Syrian National Council’s open letter to the Lebanese people, saying that a free and independent Syria’s recognition of a sovereign Lebanon is the only way to rebuild solid Lebanese-Syrian ties based on trust and cooperation.

It said in a letter to the Syrian people: “Democratic change in Syria will mark an historic opportunity for its development and guarantee Lebanon’s independence.”