Informed sources confirmed on Monday that a March 8 envoy visited Damascus last week where it held talks on the government formation process in Lebanon.

They told the Central News Agency that the envoy was informed that there will be no interference in the government formation process, adding that he received Damascus’ support for Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati and a recommendation that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s demands be taken into consideration.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated on Monday that the possession of arms between various Lebanese parties should be addressed, “but the main weapons to defend Lebanon against any Israeli assault should remain.”

He told France 24: “These arms are Lebanon’s defense and fortification … Lebanon should either side with the western Israeli front or the Arab Islamic one.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea lamented on Monday that the situation in Lebanon wouldn’t improve as long as there isn’t a single state.

“Things couldn’t straighten up in a country where there is no single state,” Geagea said in reference to Hizbullah which the March 14 forces accuse of forming a state within the Lebanese state.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s circles criticized al-Mustaqbal movement saying “it knew who to choose to snap back at us because it is aware that we don’t argue with our friend Samir al-Jisr.”

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP al-Jisr accused Miqati in remarks published Sunday that the premier-designate wasn’t extending his hand to the March 14 forces.

Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan said there was no excuse in delaying the formation of the cabinet, stressing that neither the international tribunal’s indictment nor the March 14 stance would be in favor of Lebanon.

“I am not convinced of statements that call for waiting for the development of the situation internally and abroad,” Arslan told As Safir daily in remarks published Monday.

Following the March 14 alliance’s official decision to become the country’s new opposition, Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati now faces the difficult task of meeting the demands of some members of the March 8 forces that brought him to power.

Miqati’s circles told An Nahar daily in remarks published Monday that the premier-designate will seek to form a mixed technocrat-politicians cabinet.

As expected, the March 14 forces on Sunday officially announced their refusal to take part in the country's new government.

The March 14 forces "reject to legitimize the coup … and reject to turn into observers who cannot prevent violations," the coalition said in a statement recited by ex-PM Fouad Saniora after an extraordinary meeting for its 60 MPs at the Bristol Hotel in Beirut.

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Sunday noted that he had mentioned the reasons behind his resignation in a letter he had submitted to Pope Benedict XVI, adding that the pope has accepted the resignation.

"The call for electing a new patriarch will be made very soon," Sfeir told reporters at the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport upon his return from the Vatican.

Caretaker premier Saad Hariri on Sunday held phone talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Hariri and Erdogan "discussed the ongoing efforts to evacuate Lebanese citizens from Libya," the premier's press office announced in a communiqué.

Hundreds of people marched in Beirut on Sunday demanding an end to Lebanon's confessional system, mobilized by a call posted on Facebook.

"The revolution is everywhere ... Lebanon, it's your turn," chanted demonstrators, most of them young people, in reference to the popular uprisings rattling regimes across the Arab world since January.