Hizbullah will launch a new stage of escalation this month when international tribunal prosecutor Daniel Bellemare hands over the first part of his indictment to the pre-trial judge, a diplomat told al-Liwaa daily.

He said the escalation will start this Thursday and last till January 15 when Bellemare delivers the first of three indictment parts to Judge Daniel Fransen.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani is making contacts to hold a Muslim-Christian spiritual summit in the aftermath of attacks on Christians in the region, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that the summit could be held at the seat of the Maronite church in Bkirki end of this week to contain the repercussions of attacks on Christians in Iraq, Egypt and Nigeria.

Hopes to hold a cabinet session soon are dissipating as majority ministerial sources confirmed that efforts by President Michel Suleiman and Premier Saad Hariri to call for a government meeting are still hindered.

The sources told al-Mustaqbal newspaper that Suleiman and Hariri will renew efforts to hold a session whose agenda includes more than 500 items.

Labor Minister Butros Harb on Tuesday rejected accusations that a draft-law that prevents sale of property between Muslims and Christians for a period of 15 years was "sectarian."

In remarks to Future News, Harb said: There are suspicious sales of Christian lands as if there is a tendency to uproot Christians from their areas."

Speaker Nabih Berri lamented that the Saudi-Syrian initiative had entered a "recovery stage" as Saudi King Abdullah was convalescing following his back surgery in New York.

Abdullah's illness reflected negatively on the initiative because the king along with Syrian President Bashar Assad is its primary sponsor, Berri reportedly told his visitors on Monday night.

In the wake of the recent deadly attacks against Christians in Iraq and Egypt, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday called on Arab League chief Amr Moussa to "declare a state of emergency to protect Christians and prevent a worldwide conflict between Muslims and Christians."

In an interview on MTV, Geagea called on Arab states to "agree on taking firm decisions to defend Christians where they are being targeted."

Jbeil Maronite Archbishop Beshara Rai said Monday that an Islamic summit should announce its stance from fundamentalists that are attacking Christians in the region.

Islamic and Arab countries should also make a stance from the latest attacks on Christians in Iraq and Egypt, he told LBC TV network.

Security forces launched an investigation after a fire engulfed a green Volvo in Zouk, north of Beirut, at midnight Sunday, media reports said.

Residents heard several explosions when the vehicle went on fire.

An official from the Mustaqbal movement accused March 8 forces of rejecting a solution to the Lebanese crisis by seeking to end the operations of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

"Those who want to abolish the international tribunal through the Saudi-Syrian initiative are not seeking a solution and not making an effort to meet us midway through," the official told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Monday.

Education Minister Hassan Mneimneh said the success of the Saudi-Syrian initiative requires "guarantees by some regional and international countries that have direct influence on developments in the region."

Mneimneh told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily that the initiative requires a lot of efforts to succeed and such guarantees have not been made yet "because Iran and the United States are using the settlement to make gains on each other."