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Opposition Coordinates Stances Ahead of Parliamentary Vote of Confidence Sessions

The opposition has coordinated the stances it would make during parliamentary sessions to discuss the cabinet’s policy statement starting Tuesday, March 14 General-Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid said.

Soaid told Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) that opposition lawmakers have agreed on the role of each MP during the sessions that are scheduled to take place for three days and are aimed at giving the vote of confidence to Premier Najib Miqati’s government.

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Roknabadi Describes Indictment as ‘Politicized’, Rules Out Israeli Attack

Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi described the Special Tribunal for Lebanon indictment in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri as “politicized,” saying he supports a “non-politicized” international justice.

“We are keen that no one in Lebanon objects that Israel is the enemy, despite the differences over the techniques of the resistance,” Roknabadi told As Safir newspaper on Monday.

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Report: New STL Arrest Warrants Against More than 14 Suspects Soon

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is expected to issue in the coming months more arrest warrants in the case of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination, informed sources told al-Liwaa daily published Monday.

The warrants could be issued before or shortly after the 30-day period granted to Lebanon to serve out the STL warrants that were handed to Lebanese authorities last week. If the suspects are not arrested within that period, the tribunal can then publicly call on the four Hizbullah members to surrender.

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Miqati Says Truth and Justice Correlated, Vows Not to Remain Silent to ‘Smear Campaign’

Premier Najib Miqati said Monday that the truth in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder and stability go hand in hand, stressing that it was his responsibility to preserve Lebanon’s stability.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper, Miqati said: “There is a correlation between the truth and stability.”

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Al-Mashnouq: Hizbullah Ministers Should Quit ‘Cabinet of Treason’

Al-Mustaqbal MP Nohad al-Mashnouq called on Hizbullah ministers to quit their posts in the cabinet, saying there can’t be Hizbullah members in the government at a time when the party’s militants are wanted for involvement in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder.

The Hizbullah ministers should quit “until the truth” is found in Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, he said.

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March 14 Calls on Miqati, Cabinet to Commit to 1757 or Step Down

Following a broad meeting for the March 14 forces at the Bristol Hotel in Beirut on Sunday, the coalition called on Prime Minister Najib Miqati and his government to announce their commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1757, which established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, or step down.

“As a national, democratic opposition … we call on the premier to openly and directly declare his commitment to Resolution 1757 in parliament on Tuesday morning, and to announce his commitment to the practical steps for implementing this resolution, or to step down along with his government,” the March 14 forces said in a statement recited by former premier Fouad Saniora after the meeting.

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Geagea Heads to UAE for Official Visit

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday traveled to the United Arab Emirates upon an official invitation from Emirati officials, state-run National News Agency reported.

Geagea is accompanied by MPs Strida Geagea and Antoine Zahra, LF Foreign Relations Officer Joseph Nehme and LF Gulf area official Fadi Salameh.

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Al-Rahi from Batroun: We Won’t Allow Anyone to Determine Our Fate

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday said Lebanon needs “a new mentality, a new vision and a democratic rhetoric,” stressing that “we will not allow anyone to determine our fate.”

“Those who came before us had paid a heavy price throughout the consecutive and long stages,” al-Rahi added during a meeting with MP Samer Saade, MP Boutros Harb’s representative George Harb and a number of political figures on the second day of his pastoral visit to the northern region of Batroun.

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Qabbani Calls for Ending Dispute on STL to Consolidate Stability

Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said Sunday that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon should not be part of the political bickering because it is a legitimate institution established by a U.N. Security Council resolution.

“This court is an institution that has international legitimacy from a Security Council resolution that established it. That’s why it should be left out of the political rhetoric,” Qabbani said in a statement.

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Legal Expert Says Nasrallah’s Evidence Baseless, Computers Document Belongs to UNTSO

A document aired on al-Manar TV allegedly proving that U.N. investigators probing ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder case had transferred IT equipment to Israel is baseless, a legal expert hinted to An Nahar daily published Sunday.

The expert said that the document, which was aired during a televised speech made by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday night, has a UNTSO stamp.

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