Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Wednesday that parliamentary work will not cease its activity in light of the March 14-led opposition's announcement that it will boycott all government work.

His visitors quoted him as saying during his weekly meeting with MPs: “I am keen on the participation of all political powers in any legislative session.”

A soldier was wounded on Wednesday in a shooting in front of the Beirut residence of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Imad Othman, reported LBCI television.

It said that two assailants riding on a motorcycle opened fire at an ISF patrol in front of Othman's residence in Beirut's Qasqas neighborhood.

Cabinet is scheduled to convene at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday for the first time since the October 19 assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan, reported the As Safir newspaper Wednesday.

Ministerial sources highlighted to the daily the significance of the session, in that it will likely approve diplomatic appointments and stress that it will continue its duties despite the pressure it is coming under by the March 14-led opposition.

Speaker Nabih Berri said Wednesday that the meeting of the parliamentary subcommittees will be held on time and that boycotting the sessions for security reasons is a consideration that affects everyone.

Berri said, if security reasons compel some parties to boycott the sessions, these considerations affect everyone and are not limited to one team, the As Safir daily said Wednesday.

The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau arrested on Saturday a Nigerian national who was allegedly monitoring the Beirut residence of the mother of Mustaqbal bloc MP Nouhad al-Mashnouq, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Wednesday.

An informed security source told the daily that the Nigerian man was a detained in Beirut's Caracas neighborhood where, according to witnesses, he had been monitoring Mashnouq's mother's building from a nearby building for a couple of days.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Elizabeth Jones arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday where she is set to hold talks with senior officials.

She kicked off her visit by holding separate talks with President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati reportedly criticized the March 14 camp's statement that was issued on Tuesday announcing its boycott of government activity, saying that national matters cannot be tackled “impulsively,” reported As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.

His circles told the daily: “The statement does not serve efforts to reach calm in Lebanon.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Tuesday visited Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat at the al-Mukhtara Palace.

The one-hour meeting tackled the latest developments in the country, state-run National News Agency reported.

The March 14 forces on Tuesday declared a “total boycott” of Prime Minister Najib Miqati's government, calling for a “neutral, salvation government that endorses the Baabda Declaration as its ministerial Policy Statement.”

“We will not tolerate that our rejection of the dangerous situation be depicted as a battle to return to power or to the premiership,” the March camp said in a statement issued after a broad meeting for its leaders at the Center House in downtown Beirut.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday described the assassination of Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, head of the Internal Security Forces' Intelligence Bureau, as “a black turning point that cannot be overlooked, as it heralds the end of a phase and the beginning of another in Lebanon.”

According to a statement issued after the bloc's weekly meeting, the headline of the new phase in Lebanon is “the renewed attempt of the Syrian-Iranian regime and its local and regional tools to target Lebanon and turn it into an arena for conflict and settling scores, in a bid to dominate it and subjugate its democratic system and people.”