Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati reiterated that his hand was extended to the March 14 forces to form a national unity cabinet that serves Lebanon and its citizens.

“If we want our country to be united and stable … we should join hands,” Miqati told As Safir daily in remarks published Monday.

Sources concerned with the government structure on Monday uncovered that the delay in forming a Cabinet is not only related to the issue of names and portfolios, but is due to differences between Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati and Hizbullah.

The sources told pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat that Hizbullah has informed Miqati that the party rejects any mention of the international tribunal in the policy statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama marked the sixth anniversary of the assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri by reaffirming his support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

For the past two years, a bitter political battle has revolved around the STL which is expected to implicate Hizbullah members in the Hariri murder.

We are still with a tribunal that leads to unveiling the truth behind the murder of ex-PM Rafik Hariri "instead of fabricating it," Speaker Nabih Berri said Sunday.

At a graduation ceremony for AMAL students, Berri added: "We had reached an agreement on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon at the national dialogue table."

Outgoing premier Saad Hariri will announce on Monday, the sixth anniversary of the assassination of his father ex-PM Rafik Hariri, his transition to the opposition camp, March 14 General-Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid said Sunday.

"The speech that will be delivered by Saad Hariri in the conference held by the March 14 forces tomorrow (Monday) will define the political shift and the new headlines of the upcoming period," Soaid told Agence France Presse.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani stressed on Sunday that the current developments in Lebanon are a result of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

He said after visiting the slain premier’s grave in downtown Beirut along with a representative of the Druze spiritual leader, Ghandi Makarem: “Hariri was not like other leaders. He is not a man for Lebanon alone or for the Arabs or Muslims of the world, but he was a man of the world.”

The head of the Lebanese Democratic Party Talal Arslan criticized on Sunday the sectarian division of positions in the legislative authority saying it is “another blow against the concept of a state of law.”

He said during a press conference: “Lebanon has never witnessed in its history such sectarian division such as the one taking place today.”

Hizbullah official Nabil Qaouq stated on Sunday that the equation in Lebanon today has changed from what it was in the past seeing as the Resistance now enjoys a parliamentary and popular majority, adding that it refuses the United States’ employment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as a weapon against the party.

He said during a ceremony commemorating the assassination of Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh: “The new government in Lebanon should help remove the country from the American minefield.”

Sources concerned with the formation of the new Cabinet revealed that Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati was informed by Hizbullah that the party will reject any reference to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the new government’s ministerial statement, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat Sunday.

It said that the premier-designate was informed of this decision during a meeting with Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that was held away from the media spotlight about a week ago.

Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to deliver a speech on Wednesday during the party’s commemoration of its martyrs.

The speech is set to focus on local and Arab developments, most notably the recent events in Egypt.