The Victims’ Participation Unit of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has opened on Tuesday applications for victims to participate in the proceedings before the Tribunal, announced the STL press office in a statement.

This follows the confirmation of an indictment by the Pre-Trial Judge on June 28, 2011.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour has vowed to resort to the United Nations to resolve the conflict on Lebanon’s maritime border with Israel after the Jewish state’s proposal deepened the feud over offshore gas fields between the two states.

"Israel's measures have created a new point of tension in the region and threaten peace and security across this region," Mansour told reporters in Beirut on Monday.

Former Defense Minister Elias Murr accused Hizbullah of being part of a Syrian plot to murder him, revealed a leaked U.S. Embassy cable dated November 14, 2005.

The WikiLeaks cable spoke of the then defense minister’s fear that the Hizbullah would adopt a more aggressive position after the release of Detlev Mehlis’ report on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on December 15, 2005.

Ministers representing the Change and Reform bloc in the cabinet are gearing up to discuss several controversial issues at government meetings, the first of which will be held on Thursday.

Free Patriotic Movement sources told al-Liwaa daily published Tuesday the ministers believe that they have the upper hand in deciding the major path the cabinet sessions would take including the appointments that it would make to top posts in state institutions.

The cabinet will hold its first meeting on Thursday with major issues on its agenda that need to be resolved after nearly five months of political vacuum.

The agenda of the cabinet holds 71 articles. The government will begin with the necessary steps to resolve the administrative and economic issues.

Hizbullah ministers have informed several cabinet members that they were planning to propose a discussion on the controversial issue of false witnesses in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case during cabinet sessions.

Ministerial sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Tuesday that Ministers Mohammed Fneish and Hussein al-Hajj Hassan are planning to open up the subject during government sessions.

Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly suggested giving the leadership of the General Security Department to a Maronite in return for appointing a Shiite as Army chief.

Al-Liwaa daily said Tuesday that Berri’s proposal came after the Free Patriotic Movement expressed the desire to return the seat of the General Security’s presidency to the Maronite sect rather than keeping it with Shiites.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned lawmakers against Hizbullah obtaining additional weapons and property because of instability in Syria.

Barak said Monday Israel “made sure to relay to the Lebanese government that it will be seen as responsible,” for any escalation on the border.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday stressed that he has not betrayed the memory of slain premier Rafik Hariri.

“I’m cautioning against the threats. I am with justice and stability but sometimes it is better to forget about truth for the sake of stability,” Jumblat said in an interview on MTV.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has no mandate to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel and its mission is limited to preventing any hostile naval acts, UNIFIL deputy spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said Monday.

He noted that the mandate of the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force is limited to helping the Lebanese navy in preventing the unauthorized entry of arms by sea into Lebanon.