Independent Christian March 14 MPs stressed on Tuesday the need to form a neutral government that can oversee the parliamentary elections.

They said after a meeting at MP Butros Harb's residence: “We will coordinate our stances with the March 14 camp in order to reach an agreement over a new prime minister who will form a neutral cabinet.”

Beirut Examining Magistrate Judge Ghassan Owaidat issued on Tuesday arrest warrants against the seven suspects involved in the attacks against four Sheikhs in Beirut.

Owaidat kicked off interrogations with the seven men earlier in the day.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel shied away on Tuesday from revealing the timeframe for the postponement of the parliamentary elections but said he needed six months of preparations for the polls if there was consensus on a new law.

During a visit to the general-directorate of the Internal Security Forces in the Beirut neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh, Charbel said: “I can only announce for how long the polls will be postponed when agreement is reached on a new law.”

Heads of clans in the Lebanese border area of Wadi Khaled urged President Michel Suleiman and General Security chief Brig. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to negotiate with the Syrian authorities the release of Mohammed al-Ahmed.

“We call on Suleiman, Ibrahim and all officials in security agencies to directly intervene and contact the Syrian authorities to free al-Ahmed,” the clans said in a statement on Tuesday.

Salafist cleric Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi stated on Tuesday that he was not the victim of an assassination attempt, explaining that al-Taqwa Mosque in the northern city of Tripoli was the target of Monday's shooting incident.

He said during a press conference: “I was not the target of the attack, but the mosque was the victim because of its support of the Syrian revolution.”

The Military Appeals Court ordered on Tuesday the release on bail of a man suspected of involvement in a deadly attack on the army in the northeastern town of Arsal, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The court's presiding judge, Alice Shabtini, ordered the release of Naufal al-Hujairi on a LL1 million bail, NNA said.

Sharp differences loomed to the surface among the March 8 coalition's members over the thorny crises confronting the country as the main factions of the coalition are expected to hold talks on Wednesday to resolve the disputes.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Tuesday, March 8 Christians and Hizbullah representatives failed during a meeting they held the day before to reach common ground on the nature of the new cabinet and the new electoral law.

Phalange MP Sami Gemayel has described centrist Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat as the “key” to a deal among rival blocs on an electoral draft-law.

Gemayel told al-Liwaa daily in an interview published Tuesday that consultations on a vote law among the March 14 alliance leaders haven't stopped.

Sharp differences between the Progressive Socialist Party and the Free Patriotic Movement surfaced on Tuesday over the energy and telecommunication portfolios despite the failure of the rival parties to agree on the nature of the new cabinet and the name of the PM-designate.

According to As Safir newspaper, PSP chief MP Walid Jumblat rejects handing over to the FPM the same shares that it had in the resigned government.

The opposition al-Mustaqbal bloc and the centrist National Struggle Front have agreed to throw their weight behind the person that ex-Premier Saad Hariri will name to lead the new government, a report said Tuesday.

Caretaker Minister Wael Abu Faour, who is close to National Struggle Front chief MP Walid Jumblat, held talks with Hariri in Riyadh and returned to Beirut late Monday.