President Michel Suleiman stressed on Monday that Lebanon “should fund” the Special Tribunal for Lebanon ruling out any threat if the cabinet doesn’t pay Lebanon’s share to the court.

In remarks to Ad-Diyar daily, Suleiman said that Lebanon is characterized by its commitment to the United Nations legitimacy and its international resolutions.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday noted that “solving the issue of Hizbullah’s arms is not in the hands of the Lebanese alone,” emphasizing the international community’s role in that regard.

Upon his return to Beirut from a pastoral visit to the United States and a brief trip to the Vatican, al-Rahi said: “I have said that it will be a major feast in Lebanon when the Resistance hands over its weapons, but what’s more important is that I have said the international community must play a role to solve this Lebanese-international issue.”

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour held talks Sunday in Doha with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on the bilateral ties between the two countries and the situations in the Arab region, “particularly in Syria,” Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported.

Tension on the Lebanese-Syrian border has mounted since a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime erupted in March and some 5,000 Syrians, among them defecting soldiers and opposition activists, have sought refuge in Lebanon.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Sunday warned that the 2013 parliamentary elections would be “the last chance for change, or else a total collapse will happen” in the country.

“We have been calling on the government to implement reforms, but no one is taking the issue seriously and they think that it is an electoral propaganda,” Aoun added, during a rally in the Koura District town of Kfar Hazir, following closed-door talks in Balamand with Ignatius IV Hazim, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said Sunday that the reconciliation with former Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and the PSP’s participation in the March 14 forces had a positive impact on the party.

The reconciliation was “illuminating,” Jumblat said in a speech at his party’s general assembly in Aley.

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi stressed on Sunday that the National Audiovisual Media Council does not have the right to ask Lebanese website hosts to register their sites at the Council.

Aridi, who is a former information minister, told al-Mustaqbal daily that the council is only an advisory board and cannot issue such decisions.

The General Security Department has confirmed the arrest of a Syrian national but said the man was seized on charges of weapons smuggling.

In a communiqué issued late Saturday, the department’s general directorate dismissed a report by Future TV that Amer Omar Adib was arrested “without any justification.”

A Kurdish official has said that the Armenian Tashnag party asked Syrian Kurds to leave several areas that have Armenian populations within Monday, warning them that they would pay LL3 million if they fail to abide by its orders.

The deputy head of the Kurdish Charity Mahmoud Siyala told al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Sunday that the Tashnag officials have given the Kurds the ultimatum to leave their houses in Bourj Hammoud, Dora and Nabaa by Monday for allegedly “drug use and acts that undermine public order.”

A meeting between U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jake Walles and Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh has led to fears that the U.S. would adopt sanctions against Lebanon, An Nahar daily reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said the meetings between Walles and Salameh in addition to President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier Najib Miqati have “jittered” the Lebanese banking sector.

Premier Najib Miqati stressed on Sunday that his cabinet’s main objective is to guarantee stability in Lebanon and expressed hope that consultations between Lebanese officials on the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would lead to a “positive outcome.”

“One of the major objectives of this government is to achieve stability because it is the key to all proposed projects for reform, investment and economic growth,” Miqati told Tele Liban.