U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly welcomed on Wednesday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s announcement that he had transferred funds Lebanon is obligated to pay to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, said the U.S. Embassy in a statement.

She noted that Lebanon’s commitments to the tribunal extend beyond the issue of funding alone.

Britain and the European Union welcomed on Wednesday Lebanon’s announcement that it will uphold its duties to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

“The United Kingdom remains a strong supporter of the tribunal and of a stable, independent and peaceful Lebanon,” the British Foreign Office said in a statement after Premier Najib Miqati announced that Lebanon had paid its dues to the tribunal.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani congratulated on Wednesday Prime Minister Najib Miqati for funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

He told the premier in a telephone call: “The decision he made saved Lebanon and the Lebanese from severe disputes.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea praised on Wednesday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying that Hizbullah and its allies can no longer claim that it is an American-Israeli product.

He said before reporters in Maarab: “If Hizbullah has any credibility, then it should recognize the tribunal.”

Speaker Nabih Berri voiced on Wednesday his satisfaction with the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying that it falls in the country’s interests.

His visitors reported him as saying: “The government should now focus on tackling various pressing issues.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s decision on Wednesday to transfer Lebanon’s annual share of funds to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon is “a step in the right direction,” the Mustaqbal Movement said.

The step is “an inevitable result of the struggle of the Lebanese for the sake of (establishing) the tribunal, fulfilling justice … and holding accountable the murderers in the assassination and terror crimes that targeted the national and political leaders,” the movement said in a statement.

The March 14 General Secretariat lauded on Wednesday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s announcement that he had transferred the country’s share of the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

It criticized however the manner in which it was achieved, describing it as being “smuggled.”

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon praised on Wednesday Premier Najib Miqati’s announcement that he had transferred Beirut’s share of funding to the court probing the murder of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.

“We are greatly encouraged by the Lebanese PM's announcement that 2011 contribution to the STL has been transferred to our account,” the court said on twitter.

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed on Tuesday that the equation of the army, people, and resistance has granted Lebanon its stability.

He said during a Ashuora sermon: “The Resistance is no longer an element in Lebanon, but one of its major components.”

Premier Najib Miqati said he transferred Lebanon’s share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon funding on Wednesday morning.

While Miqati did not elaborate on the funding mechanism, a government official said the $32 million sent to the Netherlands-based STL were drawn from the prime minister's office's budget and as such did not need cabinet approval.