President Michel Suleiman said Wednesday that the choice of Beirut as host of the Arab Thought Conference is an acknowledgment of Lebanon’s role in the service of Arab culture.

“The Lebanese challenge to allow all sects to participate in decision-making … increases our responsibilities” amid efforts by some people to thwart such attempts, Suleiman said during the opening of the conference at the Phoenicia intercontinental hotel in Beirut.

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir appeased fears about a worsening situation, saying conditions will get better thanks to the people who are making sacrifices to salvage the nation.

“We hope Lebanon would become better than it was,” Sfeir told a student delegation on Wednesday.

Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel announced on Wednesday that he would accept an invitation to visit Iran following coordination with the Iranian leadership.

While lauding Iranian-Lebanese ties that have witnessed a major leap forward, Gemayel considered Premier Saad Hariri’s visit to Tehran an “important sign.”

Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad on Wednesday said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is a violation of the Lebanese Constitution and accused U.N. investigators of procrastination.

He said some the concerns raised by Hizbullah to the U.N. Hariri investigation committee during a March 2010 meeting were not answered.

Saudi Arabia proposed setting up an Arab force to fight Hizbullah militants in Lebanon with the help of the United States, U.N. and NATO, a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable said.

In a meeting in May 2008 with U.S. ambassador to Iraq David Satterfield, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said a "security response" was needed to the "military challenge" posed to Beirut by the Iran-backed militants.

Syrian officials were stunned by the assassination of senior Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus two years ago, triggering a blame game between rival security services, according to WikiLeaks cables published by The Guardian newspaper.

U.S. reports from February 2008, revealed by WikiLeaks, described how the Assad regime was shocked when Mughniyeh was murdered by a sophisticated bomb planted in his car.

Israeli Minister Yossi Peled has promised Ghajar residents there will be no physical partition in the village despite Israel's decision to withdraw from its northern part.

His promise was made during a meeting with head of the Ghajar council, Ahmed Fatali, and village representatives on Tuesday.

A group of March 14 officials and intellectuals will launch an initiative on Tuesday on ways to use the indictment that will be issued by the international tribunal to consolidate stability in Lebanon, March 14 general-secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid told Voice of Lebanon radio station.

The initiative, which will be in the form of a political document, will be announced at hotel Le Gabriel on Tuesday afternoon, he said. It will be aimed at consolidating stability and justice and paving the way for consensus among Lebanese.

The Israeli Mossad tried to assassinate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to Beirut around 40 days ago, an informed Iranian source told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

The source said that Tehran monitored attempts by the Israeli intelligence to carry out an assassination operation against Ahmadinejad during his visit to Lebanon in November through members of the Iranian opposition.

Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad will hold a press conference at 10:30am Wednesday to discuss the upcoming indictment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Sources close to Hizbullah told An Nahar daily that Raad will unveil the party’s “constitutional vision” about the tribunal.