Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly suggested giving the leadership of the General Security Department to a Maronite in return for appointing a Shiite as Army chief.

Al-Liwaa daily said Tuesday that Berri’s proposal came after the Free Patriotic Movement expressed the desire to return the seat of the General Security’s presidency to the Maronite sect rather than keeping it with Shiites.

President Michel Suleiman warned Israel against taking any unilateral decision that may violate international law concerning the maritime borders.

“Lebanon is ready to defend its territories, land and maritime borders with all the possible and legal ways,” he told his visitors on Monday.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil is expected on Monday to ask both President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati to place the issue of Lebanon’s maritime border with Israel on the agenda of the cabinet meeting this week.

On Sunday, Bassil said that Beirut will not give up its maritime rights. His comment came after Israel's cabinet approved a map of the Jewish state's proposed maritime borders with Lebanon to be submitted for a U.N. opinion.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati will keep top Sunni personalities in their “sensitive posts” despite previous campaigns by his allies to remove them for being close to former Premier Saad Hariri, ministerial sources said.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Monday that among the officials that Miqati intends to keep in their posts are General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza, Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and head of the Intelligence Bureau Col. Wissam al-Hassan.

President Michel Suleiman has denied that he would visit Damascus along with Premier Najib Miqati, saying however that it was the PM’s duty to travel to Syria.

In remarks to Ad-Diyar daily published Saturday, Suleiman said: “The prime minister’s visit is a duty and is possible at any time but it’s up to him to decide the appropriate timing.”

An American administration official may visit Beirut next week in order to hold talks with Lebanese officials to determine the United States’ position on the new cabinet, reported the Central News Agency on Thursday.

The official, likely to be U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffery Feltman, will hold talks with President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati and a number of other figures.

President Michel Suleiman has said it was inevitable for officials to resort to the national dialogue to solve the country’s political problems, As Safir daily reported Wednesday.

Suleiman’s visitors told the newspaper that the president said the politicians could discuss all controversial issues and find their appropriate solutions through the national dialogue.

President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati held talks at Baabda palace on Monday to agree on a replacement for Talal Arslan, who has announced his resignation from the new cabinet.

Media reports said a presidential decree is expected to be issued soon naming Marwan Kheireddine as the new minister of state without portfolio.

The premiership received on Saturday Minister Talal Arslan’s written resignation from cabinet, reported LB television.

President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati will discuss this issue on Monday.

Former Defense Minister Elias Murr held President Michel Suleiman responsible for exposing his security, stressing that he didn’t carry out his tasks towards the probe into the bombing that targeted him.

“I have been with him (the president) since he was the army chief. He didn’t carry out his tasks concerning the investigation into my attempted murder. And his last stances from the government (show that) he exposed us,” Murr told LBC television on Thursday night.