Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Thursday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.

An-Nahar

Border security at forefront of Defense Council agenda

Pay hikes decision gone

Border security with Syria – the north and the Bekaa – and the return to the series of explosions targeting restaurants and liquor stores on the eve of New Year celebrations weighed heavily on the government’s shoulder Wednesday.

The split among Cabinet members over the border security issue was not unlike the division over social matters.

For this reason, Cabinet decided to refer the border security issue to the Higher Defense Council, which will meet Thursday amid mounting discontent by the public and lawmakers over the Syrian Army incursion into the Akkar area of Wadi Khaled, north Lebanon, that left three Lebanese civilians killed.

As-Safir

Oil [exploration] decrees to be signed Jan. 4 ... pay hikes linger

Cabinet tried to contain the dispute over remarks made by Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn who said some Al-Qaeda members had entered Syria via [the Lebanese border town of] Arsal.

Government’s failure to resolve the “Al-Qaeda” controversy prompted President Michel Sleiman to call for a meeting of the Higher Defense Council, which will convene Thursday to look into the facts and the available information about Al-Qaeda and the reality along the border in Syria.

Meanwhile, efforts by Speaker Nabih Berri for the implementation of oil exploration in Lebanon succeeded.

Energy Minister Jibran Bassil said following a meeting of a ministerial committee under Prime Minister Najib Mikati Wednesday that Cabinet would sign a decree implementing the oil exploration law during a Jan. 4 Cabinet session.

Al-Mustaqbal

Cabinet assigns security, military forces to maintain border security ... tasks Higher Defense Council to look into Al-Qaeda report

Cabinet ignores crimes [committed] by “Assad’s Shabiha” in Akkar

Cabinet was late in assigning the Lebanese Army and security forces to maintain border security as if it was waiting to see bloodshed of innocent people to move.

However, interesting enough was the lack of any official condemnation of the crime committed by the “Shabiha of the Bashar Assad regime” that violated national sovereignty and killed three Lebanese civilians in the Akkar area of Wadi Khaled.

On the controversial issue of whether members of Al-Qaeda are present Lebanon, Al-Mustaqbal has learned that Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi commented during the Cabinet meeting, asking: “Do we have one government or governments [in Lebanon]?”

“What’s going on regarding Al-Qaeda in Arsal? President [Michel] Sleiman says something, Prime Minister Mikati says something else and the defense minister says another thing and so does the rest of the ministers,” Aridi said.

Ad-Diyar

Dispute over Al-Qaeda presence sends issue to Higher Defense Council

Aridi: Is there a government or governments [in Lebanon]?

[Fayez] Ghosn to Ad-Diyar: Let them provide us with information they possess

Cabinet’s meeting Wednesday witnessed a heated debate over the controversy sparked by Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn’s recent remarks about the presence of Al-Qaeda in Lebanon.

Ghosn insisted that the information about Al-Qaeda was based on Lebanese Army intelligence.

Following the Cabinet meeting, Ghosn told Ad-Diyar: “Let them provide us with information that contradicts what we have.”