Lebanon voted on Saturday against a decision taken by the Arab foreign ministers to suspend Syria’s membership in the Arab League.

18 countries agreed to the decision, while Lebanon, Yemen and Syria voted against it and Iraq abstained.

Residents of the southern town of Abbasiyyeh clashed with UNIFIL’s Spanish contingent after it prevented them from reaching their fields for not carrying permits, the National News Agency reported Saturday.

NNA said that the Spanish contingent prevented several residents from reaching their homes and olive groves in an area near a UNIFIL base, saying they did not have permits that would allow them to enter the territory abutting the border.

The March 14-led opposition general-secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid called on Saturday the cabinet to offer help to the Syrian refugees and warned the authorities against harassing residents of Wadi Khaled for offering them shelter.

“We demand (the Lebanese authorities) to provide the Syrian refugees with a secure shelter and crucial human services,” Soaid said during a press conference.

In an unprecedented initiative, President Michel Suleiman is scheduled to address the nation on the eve of Lebanon’s 68th independence anniversary from the citadel of Rashaya in the town of Rashaya al-Wadi.

An Nahar daily said Saturday that around 100 political, social and spiritual personalities are expected to attend the ceremony inside the citadel on November 21.

Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill arrives in Beirut on Sunday accompanied by Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch and All The East for talks with top political and religious officials.

The two patriarchs and their accompanying delegation are scheduled to visit the St. George Cathedral in Beirut to meet with Greek Orthodox Bishop Elias Awdeh.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora on Saturday snapped back at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah over his accusations that the former PM guaranteed a way out for the U.S. after it rejected to fund the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO.

Following closed-door talks with Premier Najib Miqati on the sidelines of the Dar al-Fatwa meeting, Saniora said: “Linking the funding of UNESCO and the international tribunal is inappropriate because the issue of the court has to do with Lebanon’s commitment and cooperation with it.”

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.

Leidschendam, Naharnet Exclusive:

The arguments of the representative of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor, lawyer Lain Morley, during a hearing on Friday unveiled that the prosecution’s strategy at this stage lies on delaying in absentia trials in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case for a period of three months for several reasons.

Naharnet Exclusive Report – Leidschendam:

The arguments of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s Defense Office, voiced on Friday by office chief Francois Roux and his deputy, lawyer Alia Aoun, intersected with the information published Thursday by Naharnet about the presence of disputes among the defense counsels on how to deal with the STL.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon Victims’ Participation Unit stressed on Friday that the trial of the suspects in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri should not start without the participation of the victims who were affected in the crime.

A representative of the unit said during an STL court hearing in The Hague that the trials cannot begin without the victims, saying that there are several victims who are waiting for the tribunal to extend its hands and help them.