Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Tuesday the importance of cooperation between the people, army, and resistance, as well as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, in defending the security of southern Lebanon.

He said after holding talks with UNIFIL Commander Major General Alberto Asarta: “The attacks that have taken place in the South target the equation of the army, people, and resistance.”

The cabinet has approved a draft law that would allow Lebanese expatriates to apply for the citizenship of their country of origin, a move that would help them in the future to take part in parliamentary elections.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told An Nahar daily on Tuesday that the draft law was approved with minor amendments. He said only the children of fathers and grandfathers of Lebanese origin would get the citizenship and not the children of Lebanese mothers who are married to foreigners.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Sunday noted that “there’s an attempt to depict some towns in the Bekaa” as dens for criminals.

During a meeting with Ahmed Zeidan, the manager of dairy company Liban Lait who was freed Sunday in the Bekaa Valley after a 4-day kidnap ordeal, Berri said some “major and brave towns” are being labeled as criminal, although “these towns are home to honorable people and decent tribes, but unfortunately a few individuals are tarnishing the image of these towns.”

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised on Sunday Lebanon’s condemnation of Friday’s attack against the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, confirmed that he will visit Lebanon in January.

He told Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour that he will visit the country on January 13 and 14.

The Lebanese army succeeded on Sunday in releasing Ahmed Zeidan, one of the managers of dairy company Liban Lait who was kidnapped on Wednesday.

He was found in the outskirts of the town of Brital in the Bekaa, reported Future News on Sunday.

Speaker Nabih Berri condemned on Friday the attack on UNIFIL and the national security, saying it aims at destabilizing the South.

“The terrorist attack that targeted the UNIFIL forces aims at destabilizing Lebanon and the South,” a statement issued by Berri’s office said.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon will discuss with senior Lebanese officials during his upcoming visit to Beirut the cooperation protocol of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that is opposed by the majority of the cabinet members.

The protocol expires in March.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon “should have followed the constitutional path in Lebanon,” noting that “no one would have opposed it in that case.”

In an interview with Al-Afkar weekly to be published Friday, Berri emphasized that the court “is still unconstitutional because neither the president nor the parliament have ratified it.”

Baabda Palace has reportedly snubbed visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman after the failure of President Michel Suleiman to meet with any U.S. official during his visit to New York in September.

An Nahar daily said Thursday that the presidential palace did not set a date for talks between Suleiman and Feltman as a retaliation to the failure to hold any meeting between the Lebanese head of a state and U.S. officials on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in September.

Speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday that the parliament would convene on December 14 at 11:00 am as a follow-up of the first question and answer session.

The last Q&A session, which was held on November 16, had seven questions on its agenda. While cabinet ministers answered them, Berri decided to put four of them on the agenda of an official inquiry.