Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and MP Marwan Hamadeh both supported an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon during the July 2006 war, said a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Thursday.

The Wikileaks cable spoke of a late night meeting between U.N. special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, Jumblat, and Hamadeh during which the former suggested handing over the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah to the Lebanese state.

Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh on Thursday congratulated Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on his election and hoped for stronger ties with Bkirki.

“This is the beginning of new relations with Bkirki, and I hope we can cooperate,” Franjieh said after meeting with al-Rahi at the seat of the Maronite church.

A leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Thursday revealed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s disappointment with the Jewish state’s failure in the July 2006 war, saying that it had mishandled the situation in Lebanon.

The Wikileaks cable also quoted him as saying before the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones that the failure empowered Israel’s enemies in Lebanon.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati will launch intense consultations with Lebanese officials on Thursday in an effort to break the impasse on the cabinet formation process, An Nahar daily said.

The newspaper said that talks between Miqati and Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday paved way for a series of meetings that the premier-designate is scheduled to hold with officials involved in the formation of the government.

Unknown assailants tossed overnight a hand grenade at the Beirut building where Tawhid movement leader Wiam Wahab resides, As Safir daily reported Thursday.

The newspaper said the incident caused material damage only.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi is “closely following the developments in Lebanon” and would exert all efforts to support the resumption of dialogue among all Lebanese parties, his spokesman Minha Bakhoum said.

Al-Arabi is concerned over the “decline in the possibilities of (holding) dialogue among the parties,” Bakhoum said in a statement on Wednesday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat is expected to hold talks with the assistant of the Syrian president’s deputy in Damascus on Thursday, As Safir daily reported.

The newspaper said that Jumblat would meet with Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nassif as part of consultations on the situation in Lebanon and the Arab world.

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez has said that Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s government would remain committed to Lebanon’s international obligations.

“My meeting with Miqati was fruitful … He wants to form (the cabinet) in a few days but he is seeking to include in it all forces and the biggest number of political factions in Lebanon,” Jimenez said during a press conference at Bustros Palace on Wednesday night.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran, Syria and Hizbullah “and other terrorist elements” are making daily efforts “to smuggle weapons into Lebanon and Gaza."

Netanyahu made the remark after inspecting a massive shipment of weapons seized from the "Victoria" ship at the Ashdod port in southern Israel.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday stressed that "only the project of (building) the State can protect all the Lebanese equally without discrimination."

During a meeting with the Mufti of Tripoli and the North Sheikh Malek al-Shaar and a delegation of Muslim religious scholars, Hariri added: "Some ask why did Saad Hariri suddenly sharpen his political rhetoric. We do not have a problem with anyone, Lebanon has a problem with the intimidation of weapons and their use in the political life."