Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun told Al-Jazeera TV that investigations with retired General Fayez Karam violated the criminal trial law, saying that this allows for demanding that the investigations be re-launched.

These violations, he said, include torture and preventing the accused from meeting with his lawyer in private.

Sources close to the Elysee Palace revealed on Friday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad affirmed to his French counterpart Nicola Sarkozy that Syria will not present an initiative to solve the Lebanese crisis even though he is aware that the Lebanese are unable to reach a settlement themselves.

Al-Balad French reported the sources as saying that the meeting between Sarkozy and Assad focused on the need for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to continue its work.

Progressive Socialist Party media official Rami Rayyes stated on Friday that party leader MP Walid Jumblat is “completely aware of the dangers on the internal scene” in Lebanon and that political forces have no choice but to return to dialogue.

He told the Central News Agency that the political forces in Lebanon must present some concessions towards resolving the country’s political crisis “in hope of reaching an agreement that appeases all sides regarding the false witnesses.”

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has appointed Herman von Hebel to the post of Registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Von Hebel, is a Dutch national with decades of experience in international law at three tribunals including the STL, as well as for the Government of the Netherlands.

Loyalty to the Resistance MP Hasan Fadlallah stated on Friday that the indictment’s real purpose is to “tarnish the Resistance’s image”.

“They want to damage its image after they realized that the Islamic resistance in Lebanon has become all the hope for all the Arabs and Muslims in the world,” he said.

Labor Minister Butros Harb on Friday suggested the Syrian judiciary to refer the file of a lawsuit filed by Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed against Lebanese politicians and other figures to the Lebanese judiciary to prosecute them if they were found guilty.

After the release of the indictment by the Lebanese judge, the file would be referred to cabinet to have the final say, Harb said.

Free Patriotic Movement official Fayez Karam has reportedly confessed to meeting with Israeli officials in Paris and to providing Israel with Aoun-Hizbullah meetings.

While pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat cited well-informed sources as saying that Karam maintained contact with Israeli officers via telephone after his return to Lebanon, Asharq al-Awsat said the retired army general had been providing Israel with outcome of Aoun's meetings with Hizbullah.

Mustaqbal Movement official Mustafa Alloush on Friday said there is a tendency toward "cutting down threats" and wait for indictments to be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

"There is a tendency to cut down threats that prevailed over the past several months and wait for issuance of the indictment," Alloush told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Unknown assailants tossed two Molotov bombs early Friday in Dekwaneh and Borj Hammoud, inflicting material damage.

Local media said the first bomb targeted a shoe factory in Dekwaneh, shattering the show window.

A Syrian-Saudi initiative aimed at finding a solution to the Lebanese crisis waits for a signal from Saudi King Abdullah, As-Safir newspaper reported Friday.

It cited a source who followed up on a visit to Paris by Syrian President Bashar Assad.