Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud on Tuesday noted that the "obstacle hindering the cabinet formation process is not over the interior ministry portfolio," adding that "everyone has the right to demand the interior ministry portfolio," but not at the expense of people who have worked hard in the ministry's service.

Speaking to reporters after an urgent meeting for the country's Central Security Council, Baroud stressed that his ministry's employees should not be attacked. "We have a team that has worked hard in the interior ministry and it should not be treated in this manner," said Baroud.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen on Tuesday held a confidential hearing relating to the request by former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed to obtain documents that relate to his file and which he believes are in the possession of STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, STL’s press office announced.

“The hearing examined which of these documents the Prosecutor should hand over to Mr. Sayyed,” the press office noted in a statement.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned on Tuesday Syria’s accusations against MP Jamal al-Jarrah that he was funding a terrorist cell stirring unrest in Syria.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The movement and its bloc have not and do not intend on meddling in the developments in Syria.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun described the atmosphere at Tuesday’s Christian meeting as “positive and reassuring”.

He said after the movement’s weekly meeting: ““The ice was not broken, but a discussion that may turn into a dialogue was launched, and this is comforting to the Lebanese.”

Bahrain on Tuesday returned confiscated passports to Lebanese citizens and allowed them to remain in Manama, days after expelling more than a dozen mainly Shiite Lebanese over "security concerns."

"Bahraini authorities have returned the passports of a number of Lebanese citizens living there after having confiscated them in preparation for their expulsion," a foreign ministry source in Beirut told Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

President Michel Suleiman held talks with Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet in the Baabda palace on Tuesday.

Paet expressed his gratitude to the Lebanese security forces’ efforts in searching for the seven kidnapped Estonian cyclists.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati telephoned on Tuesday his Bahraini counterpart Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, thanking him for his efforts to halt procedures taken against some Lebanese residing in the Gulf state.

He assured him of his keenness of Bahrain’s stability and bolstering ties between the two countries.

Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat criticized House Speaker Nabih Berri’s handling of the case of Syria’s accusation against MP Jamal Jarrah of funding a terrorist cell seeking to destabilize the Arab state.

He told al-Mustaqbal newspaper in remarks published on Tuesday: “An accusation was directed against a member of parliament and his refusal to respond to the allegations means that he is allowing Jarrah’s blood to be spilled.”

A meeting held between the country’s top Christian officials in Bkirki on Tuesday was “friendly,” said a statement released after the talks but failed to say when the foes would meet again.

The four leaders “discussed the proposed issues by differentiating between what is agreed on and what is subject to legal political differences in a democratic nation that respects freedoms and distinctions,” Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayad said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe is scheduled to pay a visit to Lebanon on May 13-14, a French source told pan-Arab al-Hayat daily on Tuesday.

“Lebanon should be a free and sovereign country and become an example in the region due to its dynamic democratic institutions and peaceful coexistence among sects,” Juppe said in his statement during the “Arab Spring” symposium held at the Arab World Institute on Saturday.