A meeting was held between Hizbullah and Progressive Socialist Party officials on Wednesday to set the stage for improved ties between the Shiite party leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and PSP chief Walid Jumblat, An Nahar daily reported.

Minister Wael Abou Faour, who is a PSP official, told As Safir newspaper on Thursday that the meeting came as part of dialogue between the two sides and keenness to improve bilateral relations.

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi confirmed on Sunday that relations between Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and the Assad regime have reached a low point over the situation in Syria.

In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, Aridi said: “Contacts between MP Walid Jumblat and the Syrian regime have been cut over the differences on the situation in Syria.”

President Michel Suleiman, Premier Najib Miqati and Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi signed decrees to provide funds to Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi, who has been boycotting cabinet sessions over the past three weeks, An Nahar daily reported Saturday.

The newspaper said that Suleiman, Miqati and Safadi signed the decrees at Baabda palace on Friday.

Premier Najib Miqati’s sources have stressed that disagreements between Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi and Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi should be solved away from the media glare.

In remarks to al-Liwaa daily published Friday, the sources said: “This problem should not be solved through the media.”

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi and Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi traded salvos of accusations on Thursday over the funding of ministry projects.

Aridi, who has been boycotting cabinet sessions over the past two weeks, said in a press conference that he cannot be a “partner in mismanagement.”

The government approved a draft law on Friday to ban lawmakers from serving in the cabinet after a heated session over demands by the ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to include the prime minister in the provisions.

The session was chaired by President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace.

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi stressed on Sunday that the National Audiovisual Media Council does not have the right to ask Lebanese website hosts to register their sites at the Council.

Aridi, who is a former information minister, told al-Mustaqbal daily that the council is only an advisory board and cannot issue such decisions.

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi has criticized the Free Patriotic Movement for seeking to impose its point of view on the cabinet, warning that the government “isn’t in good shape.”

“We can’t spend our time discussing details,” the Progressive Socialist Party minister said about prolonged disputes on controversial issues. The government is holding sessions twice a week without being able to complete the discussion of its agenda, he added.

Ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat clashed during a cabinet session on Wednesday in what was seen as an attempt by the representatives of the FPM to exact revenge on the PSP ministers for scrutinizing Energy Minister Jebran Bassil’s electricity project.

During a lengthy session held at the Grand Serail, Bassil asked Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi, who is loyal to Jumblat, to unveil all projects carried out by his ministry, ministerial sources told An Nahar daily on Thursday.

A tense atmosphere from a meeting of joint parliamentary committees on the electricity project spilled into the cabinet on Wednesday amid reported verbal clashes between Change and Reform bloc ministers on one side and Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil.

Media reports said that during a government session held at the Grand Serail an argument erupted between Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas and Khalil, who is Speaker Nabih Berri’s aide, after the Change and Reform bloc minister described a decision reached at the committees meeting as “dissent.”