Information Minister Ramzi Jreij considered on Monday that the media can criticize the Special Tribunal for Lebanon if there is a need, slamming the summons by the international court of al-Jadeed TV and al-Akhbar newspaper's journalists on charges of “contempt and obstruction of justice.”

“The reports published by the two media outlets are responsible and just criticism,” Jreij said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri has warned that he would change his “classical” approach to the presidential polls if lawmakers failed again to elect a new head of state.

In remarks published by local dailies on Monday, Berri said: “I am so far dealing with the presidential elections in a classical way.”

President Michel Suleiman is expected to head on Friday a cabinet session at the Baabda Palace after he returns from Rome, where he attended the canonization mass of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII that was held at the Vatican.

A ministerial source said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper on Monday that the session will not make the appointment of top civil servants in a single package.

Syrian military aircraft on Sunday dropped four missiles at a rugged area in the outskirts of the Bekaa border town of Arsal, which has been targeted by several air raids since more than a year.

“Syrian warplanes fired four missiles on the Wadi al-Ajram area in Arsal's outskirts,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Hizbullah stressed Sunday that Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea will not be able to be elected as the country's new president, noting that “those who rejected the policy statement” of Tammam Salam's cabinet have no place in the Baabda Palace.

“The Lebanese are eagerly awaiting the election of a new president because they want the country to capitalize on the positive steps that were achieved with the formation of the cabinet and the implementation of the security plan,” Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Ali Fayyad said during a memorial service in the southern town of Blida.

Syrian President Bashar Assad met Sunday with former Lebanese General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, who said talks tackled the “cleaning” of Syrian areas near Lebanon's border from “terrorists” to pave the ground for greater “coordination” with the Lebanese Army.

A statement issued by Sayyed's office said the two-hour meeting in the morning touched on “the outcome of the Syrian army's military operations in terms of cleaning Syrian areas adjacent to the Lebanese border in Akkar and the Bekaa from terrorist groups.”

Alleged plans to set up a Syrian refugee camp at an Iqlim al-Kharroub town have trigerred a popular outcry in the area, amid a pledge by the Progressive Socialist Party to block the purported project.

Speaking at a meeting for municipal chiefs, mayors and residents at Iqlim al-Kharroub's Jmailiyeh, the town's mayor Nicolas Dagher strongly condemned “the attempt to build a Syrian refugee camp in the outskirts of our town, which overlook the towns of Alman and Rmeileh.”

The Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc has announced that withdrawing MP Henri Helou from the presidential race "is out of the question at this time," as the latter admitted that Wednesday's electoral session will not be held due to lack of quorum.

In an interview with al-Liwaa newspaper to be published Monday, Helou said: “My nomination came from the National Struggle Front bloc which I belong to after talks and consultations, and this is something normal.”

A reconciliation was reached Sunday between the Meqdad and Nasseredine families following mediation efforts by AMAL Movement and Hizbullah, a day after fierce clashes between the two clans left several people injured and caused extensive material damage.

“A reconciliation was achieved at Mr. Rashed Jaafar's house in Beirut between members of the Meqdad and Nasseredine families who live in Rweiss, in the presence of a number of figures and dignitaries,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Al-Mustaqbal movement has poured cold water on remarks by a number of Free Patriotic Movement lawmakers about the presence of a certain “deal” with former premier Saad Hariri that would see FPM leader Michel Aoun reach the Baabda Palace, amid the insistence of FPM sources on the existence of such efforts.

In remarks published Sunday in the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, a prominent, unnamed Mustaqbal minister said it is most likely that the election of a new president will not happen within the constitutional timeframe, which ends on May 25, noting that a presidential vacuum is looming on the horizon.