Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday stressed that he was not pressured into announcing the line-up of his long-awaited cabinet, which saw light on Monday after around five months of arduous negotiations.

“I swear to God I did not receive any phone call concerning cabinet formation on Sunday and only six people knew about the cabinet line-up, so I went to the presidential palace and said I won’t leave without announcing a cabinet line-up and I hope the Lebanese will support the new government,” Miqati said during an interview on LBC television.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef stated that Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen is still studying Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s indictment, stressing that the release of the indictment has nothing to do with the developments in Lebanon and the region.

He told Sada al-Balad in remarks to be published on Friday that the beginning of the trial proceedings are connected to the release of the indictment and the amendments that were introduced to it.

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon spokesman Andrea Tenenti stated on Thursday that the international troops were deployed in Lebanon at the request of the Lebanese authorities.

He said in a statement: “The Lebanese were in national agreement over UNIFIL’s functioning and U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is scheduled to travel to Rome on Sunday to take part in church activity and a synod held at the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI.

The Patriarch is expected to meet the Pope to discuss various church issues, as well as the latest developments in Lebanon and Syria.

Tawheed Movement leader Wiam Wahhab voiced on Thursday his opposition to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, stressing that a Lebanese government that abides by international resolutions will fail.

He said during a lecture in Damascus: “Any government that commits to rejecting the violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and dignity will succeed.”

Maan Karami, the brother of former Prime Minister Omar Karami, stated on Thursday that the family does not accept “charity” from any side in Lebanon.

He asked his nephew, Youth and Sports Minister Faisal, if he is content that “AMAL presented a major sacrifice of letting go of a ministerial position.”

France is committed to helping Estonia free its seven citizens kidnapped in Lebanon but patience is required to solve the sensitive case, France's European affairs minister said Thursday in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

"France as the country that knows Lebanon better than any other country in Europe has assisted and is assisting Estonia with all the means we have in the Lebanon kidnapping case," minister Laurent Wauquiez told reporters.

Youth and Sports Minister Faisal Karami on Thursday slammed Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, saying he is the “killer” of his uncle former Prime Minister Rashid Karami.

Geagea said during a press conference Wednesday that Shiite politics is dominating Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet, while the Sunni majority is not included in the government and half of the country’s Christians are not represented.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted on Thursday the absence of Arab and international statements of support for the new government.

He said that it was instead met with “complete Arab silence and some skepticism, except from Syria and Iran, who emerged as the victors after the announcement of the government lineup.”

Two Dutch diplomats were briefly kidnapped last month in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa valley and handed over to Syrian authorities across the border before being freed, the Dutch embassy in Beirut said Thursday.

"The two diplomats were stopped at a public road north of Baalbek by local people on May 24," Hans Peter van der Woude, the deputy head of mission at the Dutch embassy, told Agence France Presse.