The March 14 general-secretariat said Wednesday that the delay in the formation of the cabinet confirms that the March 8 forces lack the courage to admit their failure.

“The non-formation of the cabinet four months after the nomination (of PM-designate Najib Miqati) is a sign of the Hizbullah team’s failure (to stage) a coup on democracy and constitutional institutions,” said a statement issued after the weekly meeting of the general-secretariat.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat addressed the Lebanese on the occasion of Liberation Day, greeting all the “martyrs” and those who fought for freedom.

“Greetings to the thousands of martyrs” who adopted the cause of “the resistance politically, militarily and intellectually,” al-Liwaa newspaper quoted the PSP leader as saying.

Military sources have appeased fears about a possible attempt by Syrian forces to cross the Nahr al-Kabir in northern Lebanon after an end to the deployment of the Lebanese army along the border with Syria.

The sources denied to An Nahar daily on Wednesday that the Syrian army would cross the border and reach Lebanon. The denial came amid rumors and fears among residents in the area about the possibility of infiltration by Syrian troops.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc sources have blamed the parties who were behind the toppling of Caretaker PM Saad Hariri’s cabinet for the current government formation impasse.

“The actual responsibility of the crisis lies on those who toppled Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s government and claimed that his presence in Lebanon was hindering the formation of the new cabinet,” sources told An Nahar daily about the March 8 forces.

Speaker Nabih Berri is reportedly planning to launch a new initiative to bring the viewpoints of Premier-designate Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun closer.

An Nahar daily said Wednesday that Berri is working away from the media spotlight to solve the dispute between the two officials.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the current situation will not crush efforts to form the new government saying no one will “surrender” to the obstacles facing the cabinet formation.

“The efforts are still ongoing and the necessity requires us to reach the desired results,” Berri told An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati has said that he intentionally “turned off the engines” of his consultations to form the new government after Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun sought to bring back to the table issues that the involved parties had already reached agreement on.

According to As Safir daily, Miqati told his visitors that he was still waiting for Aoun to propose the names of his bloc’s candidates to join the new government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed the "courageous Arab protestors" battling tyranny which has inflicted “the medieval rule of Hizbullah” on Lebanon.

"The brief democratic spring in Iran was cut short by a ferocious and unforgiving tyranny. This same tyranny smothered Lebanon's democratic Cedar Revolution,” Netanyahu said in an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.

Lebanese activists gathered in a warehouse on Tuesday in a show of support for anti-regime protesters in Syria despite severe difficulties finding a venue.

"Twenty-eight hotels in Beirut and across the country refused to allow us to rent a hall to hold a private gathering in support of the Syria protests," said Saleh Mashnouk.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri congratulated on Tuesday the Lebanese on the occasion of Liberation Day on Wednesday, especially the families of martyrs who sacrificed their lives in defending Lebanon against Israeli aggression.

He said in a statement: “The anniversary of the liberation of the South comes at a time when Lebanon and the region are passing through unprecedented circumstances that require, more than ever, the Lebanese to take a stand and derive the meanings of nationalism.”