Civil defense teams are still struggling to extinguish a fire that broke out in the GPI plastic factory at the town of Mazraat Yashouh in the Metn region Sunday night.

They are facing difficulties due to the high flammability of the raw materials used in plastic manufacturing and the thickness of the smoke, which has reached as far as Keserouan and Jbeil.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s television appearance Tuesday night is expected to set the roadmap for the opposition during the upcoming phase in Lebanon under Premier Najib Miqati’s government.

The daily An Nahar Monday reported that he will address all major issues in Lebanon, especially the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has reiterated that the cabinet was not entitled to act on the arrest warrants issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying however that Lebanese judicial authorities were cooperating with the court to find the suspects.

In remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published Monday, Charbel said: “The protocol signed between Lebanon and the international tribunal states that judicial police would carry out the necessary investigation to arrest the suspects.”

Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet is facing not only the challenge of commitment to the international tribunal but also Lebanon’s implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, Lebanese official sources said.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Monday that the government’s challenge is to meet the requirements of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon after the indictment that it issued in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil is expected on Monday to ask both President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati to place the issue of Lebanon’s maritime border with Israel on the agenda of the cabinet meeting this week.

On Sunday, Bassil said that Beirut will not give up its maritime rights. His comment came after Israel's cabinet approved a map of the Jewish state's proposed maritime borders with Lebanon to be submitted for a U.N. opinion.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and diplomatic sources have calmed Lebanese fears that Israel would drill for oil and natural gas in Lebanese waters saying oil drilling companies do not make investments on disputed territory.

“No company can make gas and oil investments in disputed maritime areas,” Mansour told An Nahar daily in remarks published Monday.

The Syrian turmoil and the international condemnation of the crackdown on protesters increased Hizbullah’s concerns over the halt of weapons flow from Iran, the German Der Spiegel weekly magazine reported.

Hizbullah is currently facing a financial crisis “which contradicts the Israeli allegations,” the magazine said.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour denied that Lebanon has received an Israeli warning through Washington on the maritime boundary line between the two countries and the conflict over huge oil and natural gas reserves.

In remarks to An Nahar daily Monday, Mansour said that Washington hasn’t warned Lebanon about anything linked to the issue.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati will keep top Sunni personalities in their “sensitive posts” despite previous campaigns by his allies to remove them for being close to former Premier Saad Hariri, ministerial sources said.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Monday that among the officials that Miqati intends to keep in their posts are General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza, Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and head of the Intelligence Bureau Col. Wissam al-Hassan.

Head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Defense office Francois Roux is seeking the help of a prominent lawyer in the new majority to acquire substantial material that could help him in his task, As Safir newspaper reported on Monday.

“I want to crush (Prosecutor) Daniel Bellemare, just like the former World Bank manager did with New York’s prosecutor Cyrus Vance, after accusing him with a sex scandal,” Roux said, according to As Safir.