Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has reportedly declared that he was trying to provide his party and the Progressive Socialist Party, led by Walid Jumblat, with arms and ammunition.

In a WikiLeaks cable dated May 12, 2008 published in al-Akhbar newspaper on Tuesday, Geagea said that he was “working with Internal Security Forces chief Maj-Gen. Ashraf Rifi to buy ammunition for his militia and PSP fighters.”

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati held talks with President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday on the ongoing efforts to form a new government, reported Voice of Lebanon Radio.

The meeting focused on maintaining contacts to ease various sides’ demands in the government formation, while a final structure for the Cabinet is expected soon.

Speaker Nabih Berri said Wednesday that he was the first to ask for holding accountable those responsible of public property violations and restraining all illegal building on those properties.

MPs quoted Berri as saying after his weekly meeting with lawmakers that “the absence of the state, and the incapability of security forces to carry out their tasks and responsibilities encouraged people” to go ahead with the violations.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday noted that "the failure of the March 8 forces in forming a new cabinet – due to wrangling over the distribution of portfolios – has caused a political crisis whose repercussions have affected the security, economic and social situations.

"The thing that has led to a security chaos that involves the violation of public and private property, as well as to economic recession," the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

A former Hizbullah leader on Tuesday mourned the death of Osama bin Laden, whom he hailed as having "fought to defend Islam and its people."

Sheikh Sobhi al-Tufayli, the Iranian-backed group's first secretary general, lamented the death of a "great man, courageous, sincere in his faith, loyal to his convictions" in a statement eulogizing bin Laden.

The Phalange Party criticized on Tuesday the ongoing governmental vacuum in Lebanon, calling on officials to speed up the formation process and asserting that party leader Amin Gemayel’s suggestion to form a national salvation Cabinet is the best solution for Lebanon in this current phase.

It said after its weekly politburo meeting: “All excuses some sides had presented to avoid this proposal are baseless because the country is in need of leaders who can confront the repercussions regional developments may have on Lebanon.”

MP Marwan Hamadeh called on President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati to “liberate themselves from the cheap blackmail” that is forcing them to form a weak government that would be a failure on the Lebanese, Arab, and international scenes.

He said in a statement from parliament on Tuesday: “The silence of four months can no longer be maintained over the coup against the prime minister … as representatives of the popular majority that still stands on the Lebanese scene, we should make a few points clear before the collapse of the last of the constitutional institutions.”

President Michel Suleiman hoped on Tuesday that al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden’s death would help pave the way for comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

He hoped that Israel would be pressured to this end and in order to settle the Palestinian crisis.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has described several parties in Lebanon as corrupt “mercenaries” who are after power and have no credibility.

Aoun said in a WikiLeaks cable from Paris dated May 4, 2005 that his only ambition behind his return to Lebanon from a 15-year banishment to France was to bring back democracy to the country.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has reportedly described President Michel Suleiman as a “weak personality surrounded by supporters of the Syrian regime.”

In a WikiLeaks cable dated September 17, 2008 and published by al-Joumhouria newspaper, the Druze leader also described Speaker Nabih Berri as a “big liar.”