An Israeli bulldozer fortified on Monday an Israeli surveillance position adjacent to the southern town of Maroun al-Ras where a monument for Palestinians killed on May 15 was erected, reported the National News Agency.

The Israeli activity was accompanied by overflights by its fighter jets over the regions of Marjeyoun and Nabatieh.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams reiterated on Monday that U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon expects the new cabinet to announce its full commitment to international resolutions.

“I reiterated my expectation and the expectation of the Secretary-General that the government will restate its full support and commitment to the full implementation of 1701 in its ministerial declaration,” Williams said following talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail.

The head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad stated on Monday that the formation of the new government “surprised the sides that had been meddling with the country’s future for the past few years.”

“They didn’t expect the new majority to form a cabinet, but they have since grown accustomed to it after the foreign powers that told them that it won’t be formed realized that they are incapable of thwarting its establishment,” he added.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat traveled on Saturday after instructing his representatives in the cabinet not to accept any “explosive” policy statement draft, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported.

The newspaper said Monday it had no information about Jumblat’s destination.

Unknown assailants opened fire on Monday at policemen from the Drug Control Office of the Internal Security Forces as it was preparing to destroy cannabis fields in al-Olaiq village in the eastern city of Baalbeck.

The National News Agency reported that the “force and the tractors that accompanied it came under an armed ambush after unknown assailants opened fire at it.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati has failed to bridge the gap between the cabinet’s centrist forces and mainly Hizbullah over the clause on the international tribunal in the policy statement, ministerial sources said.

The sources told al-Liwaa daily that consultations that Miqati held over the weekend away from the media spotlight failed to strike a deal between the two sides. The premier received a proposal from the Shiite party on the clause but the suggestion does not meet with Miqati’s own vision, the sources added.

The March 14-led opposition said Monday that this week would be decisive in terms of the majority’s effort to draft the cabinet policy statement amid reports that the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination would be issued soon.

Opposition sources told An Nahar daily that differences between the majority’s different parties are not expected to last long because the pro-government forces will be compelled to draft the policy statement before the indictment’s release.

Israel threatened on Sunday to launch a large-scale military operation on southern Lebanon if the security situation continues to deteriorate in the region.

“Hizbullah has turned most of the villages in southern Lebanon into explosive spots,” security sources told the Israeli radio.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is expected to make a request to Lebanese authorities to question five Hizbullah members in the next few days after Lebanese judges traveled to The Hague ahead of the expected release of the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case, informed sources said.

The sources told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Monday that the names of the five people would remain confidential for a short period.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Sunday wondered “whether Prime Minister Najib Miqati will be able to reconcile between what he’s been saying regarding keenness on (Lebanon’s) international relations … and the objectives of Hizbullah, which had designated him” as premier.

In an interview on Al-Jadeed television, Gemayel added: “We have no problem with PM Miqati or with the ministers, but the government was formed for certain purposes: preserving (Hizbullah’s) weapons and abolishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.”