Premier Najib Miqati told the cabinet on Wednesday that he expects the government to discuss the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon next week and hoped that each party would assume its responsibility towards the controversial issue.

An Nahar daily said Thursday that several cabinet ministers inquired Miqati about reports that he intended to resign if the cabinet failed to pay its 49 percent share to the STL - $33 million this year.

National Struggle Front ministers will resign from the cabinet if the government refused to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a minister from the bloc told An Nahar daily.

“Whether (Prime Minister Najib) Miqati resigned or not, the National Struggle Front ministers will resign from the cabinet if the funding of the STL wasn’t approved,” the minister, who is loyal to National Struggle Front leader MP Walid Jumblat, told the daily.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Najib Miqati to “submit his resignation today rather than tomorrow or to jump off the boat, which is approaching the rocks.”

“The Lebanese state has not granted refugee status to those who fled to Israel (in 2000). Let the government classify them as refugees and let Miqati quit if he does not have the majority in cabinet to do that,” Geagea said during an interview on Future News television.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon Trial Chamber has decided Wednesday to await a response from the Lebanese authorities on their efforts to arrest the accused before deciding whether to begin proceedings in absentia, it announced in a statement.

“The Trial Chamber has requested STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to file a progress report by 8 December on the response of the Lebanese authorities,” it added.

The army command announced on Wednesday that the Siddiqin explosion that took place overnight may have been caused by a mine or cluster bomb left over from Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

It said in a statement that army units headed to the scene of the blast and conducted a wide search throughout the night and during the day on Wednesday without finding anything.

March 14 General Secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid questioned on Wednesday the double standards adopted in tackling security issues in Lebanon, asking why it is easy for the army to enter the town of Arsal while it is prevented from entering the town of Siddiqin.

He wondered after the General Secretariat’s weekly meeting: “Why was it allowed to pursue Syrians in Arsal, while the army, which is responsible for protecting Lebanon and implementing U.N. Security Council 1701, was thwarted from heading to Siddiqin?”

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour is expected to travel to Cairo on Thursday to participate in the Arab foreign ministers emergency meeting on Syria in light of the end of the deadline granted to the state to implement reform.

On Lebanon’s stance on the ministers’ decision, Mansour told the National News Agency: “We will wait and see what step they will take and then we will make ours.”

Lebanese Forces MP Elie Keyrouz requested in a memo to Speaker Nabih Berri that his inquiry to the government over the abduction of Syrian opposition members in Lebanon be changed into a debriefing.

He said that this request stems from the abduction of the Syrians, who are then handed over to Syrian authorities “in a violation of humanitarian laws.”

U.S. President Barack Obama stressed to President Michel Suleiman that the United States stands by the Lebanese people in their pursuit for justice, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy emphasized the need for Lebanon to commit to its international obligations, especially the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Obama told Suleiman in a cable congratulating him on Lebanon’s Independence Day that the United States will continue its support for Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty, reported the National News Agency on Wednesday.

Israel’s Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai announced on Tuesday that the Jewish state will properly handle a possible war with Hizbullah, adding that the party greatly fears Israel.

He said while visiting the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Shmona: “The Home Front Defense Ministry is exerting great efforts and funds in preparing for the next war with Hizbullah.”