Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat announced on Wednesday that Lebanon is committed to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s decisions, adding however that this does not mean that foreign meddling in Lebanon is permitted.

He made his statements after holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his ongoing visit to Russia.

The American administration will likely determine its strategy towards the Lebanese government during the upcoming weeks based on Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s handling of the arrest warrants issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, revealed official American sources to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Wednesday.

They added that the U.S. is adopting a “calm tone” in tackling the Lebanese file “seeing as it has other foreign priorities in the Arab world, such as the peace process and the situation in Egypt, Syria, Libya, and Yemen.”

The predominantly Shiite town of Lassa in the Jbeil district has been transformed into a Hizbullah military base, informed sources told al-Joumhouria daily on Wednesday.

The sources said that the Shiite party dig tunnels, set up shelters in the town and installed cameras that would take photos of vehicles and drivers.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati will reply in a calm way to all the campaigns that are targeting him, and will prove his cabinet’s determination to improve the living conditions in the country, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Miqati’s circles told the newspaper that “citizens will gradually witness the changes in different sectors.”

Around 40 horses were put down at the Beirut racecourse lately after contracting deadly bacteria that harms humans as well, al-Liwaa daily reported Wednesday.

The association in charge of the hippodrome and the agriculture ministry are staying mum on the issue although there is still a long list of horses that should be put down, the newspaper quoted sources as saying.

March 14 MP Butros Harb snapped back at Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, saying the party’s chief never proposed a defense strategy to the national dialogue conferees in 2006.

“All what Nasrallah proposed at the time was his point of view in anticipation of the proposal of the defense strategy along with Speaker Nabih Berri,” Harb told An Nahar daily published Wednesday.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc has tasked MP Mohammed al-Hajjar with questioning the cabinet on the mystery over the release of the seven Estonian tourists last Thursday.

Al-Liwaa daily said Wednesday that al-Hajjar would be the first MP to question Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet on the issue through parliament.

A source close to President Michel Suleiman has warned from the dangers of the opposition’s rejection to meet at the national dialogue table.

“Those who are rejecting to respond to (Suleiman’s invitation) for dialogue should bear responsibility,” the source told As Safir daily published Wednesday.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed Tuesday that his party “will overcome the conspiracy of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and emerge stronger than before.”

“A resistance movement that was not shaken by the most powerful air force in the region will not be shaken by (STL Prosecutor Danielle) Bellemare, (Pre-Trial Judge Daniel) Fransen, (STL President Antonio) Cassese or some mercenary writers,” Nasrallah said.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel said Tuesday that “international justice, after the release of the indictment in the assassination of the Cedar Revolution’s leaders, is the best possible framework for preventing political crime in Lebanon and putting an end to assassinations and acts of terror.”

In a speech at the Phalangist Diaspora General Convention in the Northern Metn town of Dbaye, Gemayel called on his party members to “engage in the battle for rescuing the Lebanese entity, the coexistence pact, the political system and the independence.”