The Vatican has reportedly accepted the resignation of Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, the daily Al-Akhbar reported Tuesday.

It said March 8 has been set as a date to elect a new patriarch for the Maronite church.

British Ambassador Frances Guy said she hoped for the formation of a national unity cabinet and hinted that the March 14 alliance was still the parliamentary majority despite the nomination of a Hizbullah-backed candidate to the premier’s post.

During a visit to As Safir daily’s office in the northern port city of Tripoli, Guy said she hoped for the formation of a “national cabinet” and stressed “nothing has changed on the ground because the results of the elections are still the same and haven’t changed.”

French Defense Minister Alain Juppe has stressed that Najib Miqati’s government should respect international resolutions on Lebanon, including the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Following talks with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon in New York on Monday, Juppe said “a solution should be found to the current political crisis by preserving Lebanon’s unity and stability.”

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Tuesday was set to form a March 8-dominated government after talks with March 14 leaders on Cabinet participation collapsed.

An official working with Miqati told Agence France Presse the PM-designate "hopes to finalize his consultations and form the government this week."

March 14 announced it will celebrate the sixth anniversary of the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri at Biel in downtown Beirut

A statement issued late Monday after a meeting of the March 14 Secretariat General at outgoing PM Saad Hariri's residence in downtown Beirut said the ceremony will take place in Biel at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 14.

Hizbullah and Hamas are aware that meeting the Israeli army on the classic battlefield would be "devastating," Israel's outgoing army chief Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday.

"That's why they are positioned in urban areas," he added.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has asked STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to clarify reasons why former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed should not be granted access to certain investigation documents.

"With this order, the Pre-Trial Judge is inviting the Prosecutor to provide reasons why individual documents or groups of documents in his possession, and which were allegedly in support of Sayyed's detention in Lebanon, should not be provided to Sayyed," STL's press office said in a communiqué.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel announced on Monday that the negotiations over the formation of a new government have reached a dead end, "but our hand is still extended to the other camp."

He said during a press conference: "Since the start of the crisis, we have extended our hand to all sides and we have given Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati an opportunity to form a government of national partnership."

Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed on Monday that the party will not interfere in the protests in Egypt.

He said during a popular gathering in support of the Tunisian and Egyptian people: “We cannot stand idly by when the dispute is between the oppressed and the oppressor.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Monday noted that a "drastic change" has occured in Lebanese politics, after the Hizbullah-led alliance forced the collapse of Saad Hariri's unity government last month.

"An entire approach will be changed ... after the downfall of several political parties as well as spiritual and political leaders ... and media outlets," Aoun said after presiding over a meeting for the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc.