March 14 opposition figures are holding intense consultations to avoid “falling in the trap” of Speaker Nabih Berri who has called for a parliamentary session on Tuesday to hear a speech by the Armenian president, sources told An Nahar daily.

The March 14 alliance boycotted all parliamentary activity following the Oct. 19 assassination of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief, Wissam al-Hasan, in a car bomb explosion in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district.

Speaker Nabih Berri contacted during the past two days Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to condemn the Israeli assault against the Gaza Strip, revealed An Nahar daily on Saturday.

It added that the speaker may call parliament to session, should the Israeli aggression continue, “in order to take a stand of solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

Speaker Nabih Berri urged on Friday the various heads of parliaments and unions to pressure Israel to end its assault against the Gaza Strip.

He called in a letter to the various presidents for holding emergency sessions “in order to launch a parliamentary campaign to pressure Israel to halt its aggression against the Palestinian people.”

Speaker Nabih Berri called on Wednesday for a Nov. 27 parliamentary session where Armenia's president Serzh Sarkisian is scheduled to give a speech.

Berri stressed that parliament will remain active despite the boycott by the opposition March 14 alliance.

The March 14 alliance lashed out on Wednesday at Speaker Nabih Berri's decision to activate the work of the parliamentary committees, who said that the parliament will remain open despite the boycott of the opposition.

“Calling on the parliament's Administrative and Justice Committee to convene by its rapporteur MP Nawwar al-Saheli is not constitutional,” March 14 MP Robert Ghanem said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.

The cabinet convened on Wednesday with a loaded agenda that includes the appointment of a director-general for the railway authority and the extension of the mandate of the acting director-general of General Security during a session that is likely to witness a hefty discussion on the recent security incidents in the southern city of Sidon.

Sources ruled out to An Nahar daily any appointment from outside the agenda of the government that will meet at the Grand Serail except for the appointment of Yehya Shakib Khamis and the extension of the term of Brig. Gen. Fouad Khoury.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday snapped back at Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and stressed that the March 14 alliance would only bring Speaker Nabih Berri to the speakership if he falls out of the March 8 coalition.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel “Aoun is no longer the top Christian leader in the country,” Geagea told several local newspapers in response to a televised speech made by Nasrallah on Monday.

National Struggle Front ministers, of MP Walid Jumblat, stressed on Tuesday that Lebanon is passing through a political crisis, adding that they “don't mind the resignation of the government if it means resolving the crisis.”

Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi said: “There is no such thing as a holy government and no cabinet can remain in power in light of a reality such as the one we are experiencing today.”

Speaker Nabih Berri blamed on Tuesday the March 14 opposition for preventing the country's bickering foes from reaching a deal on ending the political crisis.

“Had it (the March 14 alliance) agreed to (engage) in dialogue as I had suggested to meet every four days or one week, we would have agreed on something,” Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri has expressed frustration at the failure of Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour to welcome his French counterpart during a visit to Beirut last week, sources close to the speaker said Friday.

Mansour's absence from the welcoming ceremony of French President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius last Sunday is not right at the level of protocol, the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper.