The March 8 forces are preparing for the post-Prime Minister Najib Miqati stage as Hizbullah is expected to object the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon during Wednesday’s cabinet session.

The Hizbullah leadership began over the past two weeks preparing for the post-Miqati stage, if the premier carried out his threat to resign if the funding of the STL wasn’t approved by the cabinet, sources told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Sources close to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said the Druze chief’s stance from the government crisis is linked to the decision that Premier Najib Miqati would take if the March 8 ministers reject to fund the international tribunal.

Sources close to Jumblat told As Safir daily on Tuesday that the PSP chief rejects the collapse of the government. “The country cannot bear” crises anymore, they said.

Ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun began on Monday pressuring Premier Najib Miqati to meet their demands after Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas referred a series of decrees on the wage boost to the cabinet.

Nahhas’ move came a few days after the Change and Reform bloc ministers conditioned their participation in the government on a series of requests that Miqati should meet. Among them is the increase in salaries and the approval of development projects.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has advised the Lebanese to preserve their unity and prevent the Syrian crisis from affecting their country.

In an interview published in el-Shark newspaper on Tuesday, Juppe said all Lebanese “should focus on dialogue and work on preserving their national unity and civil peace to avoid disputes and importing them” to Lebanon.

Speaker Nabih Berri held talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati in Ain el-Tineh on Tuesday to resolve the crisis threatening to collapse the cabinet.

As Safir reported that Berri, in his attempt to find consensus among the cabinet members, was tasked by the Hizbullah leadership in coordination with President Michel Suleiman to contact Miqati to find an acceptable solution by all members.

One rocket was fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel overnight, prompting the Jewish state’s army to warn Beirut early Tuesday to work to prevent similar attacks in the future.

The Lebanese army released a statement saying that one rocket was fired from southern Lebanon from the area between the town of Haneen and Rmaish into Israel.

The Phalange Party on Monday warned that the current political bickering in the country might lead to a “dangerous power impasse” and called for forming a “salvation government.”

“The domestic arena needs to be immunized in the face of the storms lashing the region,” the Phalange Party’s political bureau urged after its weekly meeting, calling for the formation of a “salvation government enjoying the necessary sense of responsibility and disregard of personal interests.”

Pilots at Lebanon's national carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA), on Monday overwhelmingly voted in favor of a 48-hour strike in protest at the dismissal of a colleague undergoing cancer treatment.

The pilots' union said in a statement that the employee was fired while he was on sick leave and therefore his sacking “violates the labor law.”

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly expressed on Monday the United States’ concern over the possibility of Lebanon failing to meet its obligations to Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

She said after holding talks with Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas: “Its failure to meet these obligations could lead to serious consequences.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati during a visit to the Vatican on Monday invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit Lebanon next year, an aide from the prime minister's office said.

Miqati’s office in Beirut said in a statement that the visit would take place in the autumn but Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said only that the pope had received the invitation and has "shown an interest" in visiting.