Muslim and Christian clergymen, who met at the Beirut Maronite Archbishopric on Tuesday, urged officials in Lebanon to unite and adopt a nationalistic rhetoric.

The leaders of Lebanon’s sects said in a statement following their summit that their meeting should be considered as an example for interfaith meetings in the region.

A cabinet crisis that brought sessions to a standstill and showed no signs of mediation efforts last week, seemed to see a glimpse of hope on Tuesday after Speaker Nabih Berri held talks with Premier Najib Miqati following his rift with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.

“I confirmed to Berri that my latest actions were according to my national convictions, I have nothing to hide,” Miqati told An Nahar newspaper on Tuesday.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who attended a ministerial committee meeting headed by PM Najib Miqati on the electricity crisis on Monday, expressed pessimism, saying the leasing of power-generating vessels does not mean that Lebanon will not suffer from power cuts in the summer.

“If we bring in the vessels, this doesn’t necessarily mean that summer will be lighted,” al-Liwaa daily quoted Bassil as saying after attending the second meeting of the committee since the cabinet approved to lease the ships last week.

The Phalange Party on Monday slammed Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government over the issue of administrative appointments, accusing it of “nepotism.”

“It has become clear and evident that the dominant approach is the approach of nepotism, at the expense of the national interest,” the party’s political bureau said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

UNIFIL’s newly appointed Force Commander Major-General Paolo Serra on Monday lauded the cooperation between the Lebanese army and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, saying it has “brought substantial improvement in the security environment in the South.”

“I am intent on taking this strategic partnership forward.” Serra said following talks with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday described the rare double veto used by Russia and China to block a resolution condemning Syria as a “slap in the face of the Syrian people,” urging the Lebanese state to “aid the Syrian refugees” instead of staging “airborne military parades in the northern border areas.”

In his weekly column in al-Anbaa newspaper, his party’s mouthpiece, Jumblat said the vetos “destroyed what’s left of the Arab League’s initiative which tried to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria.”

Hizbullah politburo member Ghaleb Abou Zainab stated on Monday that the party supports the Free Patriotic Movement in any position it takes.

He said: “If the FPM decided to resort to street action to achieve Lebanon’s interest, then we will join it as well.”

A member of the judicial police was injured on Monday when wanted suspects ambushed his patrol in the Bekaa town of Brital, reported the National News Agency.

The ambush led to clashes between the police and three of the suspects, who were travelling in a Pathfinder.

Hizbullah and AMAL are expected to begin exerting efforts on Monday to resolve the cabinet dispute between Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement ministers, An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday.

The daily reported that Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's advisor Hussein Khalil began on Monday contacts “without having a solution ready.”

The army raids and airdrops in the northern villages of Lebanon faced high criticism by the opposition as the military stressed that these operations will be followed by several more.

A military source told An Nahar newspaper on Monday that the operations that began over the weekend were planned a long time ago, but weather conditions hindered them.