Phalange Party Central Committee Coordinator MP Sami Gemayel criticized on Thursday reports saying the ministerial policy statement will include a clause on “Lebanese people's right to resist.”

"There is no consensus over the resistance. Who is going to resist?” Gemayel asked after holding talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.

Speaker Nabih Berri suggested that the government's policy statement include a reference to Lebanon distancing itself from regional crises instead of mentioning the “Baabda Declaration” as a way to end the current deadlock on the statement discussions, reported al-Joumhouria on Wednesday.

He explained that the March 14 camp's insistence to include the Baabda Declaration in the statement will force the March 8 camp to insist on including the “army-people-resistance” equation that the former rejects.

The head of the Lebanese Democratic Party, MP Talal Arslan, was urged to boost security measures after security agencies obtained information that he might be the target of an assassination bid.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Wednesday, Arslan was advised to take extra precautions and increase his security measures.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the government's policy statement should focus on the security problems that the country is suffering from and avoid controversial political issues.

In remarks to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Thursday, Berri said: “The government has a three-month lifespan. It should prioritize the security situation.”

Lebanese officials strongly denounced on Wednesday the double suicide attack that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs, which killed at least four people and injured 100 others and was claimed by al-Qaida affiliated Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

President Michel Suleiman condemned the attack, saying: “There can be no salvation from terrorism except through complete solidarity among the people regardless of their political affiliations.”

Speaker Nabih Berri revealed on Tuesday that he urged Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah to mediate between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia to end the political rift, pointing out that explosions in Lebanon aim at creating sectarian tension between its citizens.

“I called on all Gulf countries, in particular, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia,” Berri said in comments to the Kuwaiti al-Rai television.

Speaker Nabih Berri hoped that the new cabinet would receive parliament's vote of confidence to face many challenges, including terrorism, and would pave way for the resumption of the national dialogue.

“Lebanon now has a government which we hope it would complete its policy statement and receive parliament's vote of confidence to confront many challenges,” Berri said during a dinner banquet thrown in his honor by Lebanon's Ambassador to Kuwait.

The Associated Press removed a government-produced picture of Lebanese officials posing with members of the new cabinet after learning of the photograph's manipulation.

After learning of the photograph's manipulation on Sunday, the AP removed the image from its archives and issued an advisory to customers not to use it.

Speaker Nabih Berri lauded on Monday Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet, describing it as “the best we can achieve amid the critical situation the country is passing through."

“The cabinet isn't technical nor neutral... It is a political government based on delicate balances,” Barri said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri hailed on Sunday the “ongoing initiatives” by the Gulf state of Kuwait to support Lebanon, voicing hope that Muslims would consolidate ties.

Berri, who is currently in Kuwait on a two-day visit, discussed with the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmed al-Sabah the conditions of the Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.