French President Nicolas Sarkozy is reportedly adamant to continue contacts with friendly Arab countries to guarantee Lebanon’s stability following the collapse of the government and signs that the March 8 forces would have the upper hand in forming the new cabinet.

Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat quoted French sources as saying that “Sarkozy is determined to continue efforts along with Arab countries friendly to Paris (to guarantee) the stability of Lebanon.”

French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton on Friday saluted "the unwavering commitment … that was expressed by the caretaker prime minister in the solemn and dignified speech that he delivered" Thursday.

"I visited caretaker Prime Minister (Saad Hariri) to discuss the serious political crisis that Lebanon is going through today," Pietton said after talks with Hariri at the Center House in downtown Beirut.

A grenade exploded in the Tripoli neighborhood of Bab al-Tebbaneh on Friday without causing any casualties or damage, a security official said.

"The grenade went off on Friday evening just outside a Sunni Muslim cemetery in the neighborhood of Bab al-Tebbaneh at the border with the Jabal Mohsen district," the official told Agence France Presse.

The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Friday its Appeals Chamber will sit on February 7 to mull over charges of terrorism and murder drafted for the 2005 killing of ex-premier Rafik Hariri.

A "public hearing will take place on February 7, 2011" to discuss STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen's questions to the Appeals Chamber about certain criminal definitions in the indictment, said a scheduling order of the court.

Lebanon's rumor mill is at full throttle, sparking panic and spreading a sense of foreboding, as a seemingly insoluble political deadlock that has left the country without government deepens.

A gathering of Hizbullah supporters in many western Beirut neighborhoods on Tuesday sparked rumors of a dry run in preparation for a takeover of the capital.

Lebanese Forces MP Elie Marouni questioned on Friday Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat’s positions that at times lean towards the parliamentary majority and at others lean towards the opposition.

He told the Central News Agency that he has no idea what had changed Jumblat’s mind given his latest position that he would support the opposition during Monday’s parliamentary consultations to appoint a new prime minister.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel stressed on Friday the importance that parliamentary consultations to appoint a new prime minister should take place during a calm atmosphere away from the pressures that are being exerted on the institutions.

He said in a statement after meeting President Michel Suleiman: "The pressures on the institutions have reached the point of terrorization."

The unauthorized disclosure of the confidential indictment in the Hariri murder and its supporting materials is a legal violation that is subject to legal prosecution, Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has stressed.

In his "order on the prosecutor's urgent motions for non-disclosure," Fransen notes "that the two types of conduct of concern to the Prosecutor – the unauthorized disclosure of the indictment or its supporting materials and the unauthorized disclosure of identities of witnesses included in the supporting materials – could be considered as interference with the Tribunal's administration of justice amounting to contempt of the Tribunal in violation of Rule 60 bis (A)."

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat Friday night discussed the latest developments in the country with Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah's mouthpiece Al-Manar TV announced.

Earlier Friday, Jumblat announced "the appropriate political position to confront the current phase and its complications, especially since the country has reached a dangerous crossroads after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon took on a purely political position, which has started to threaten national unity."

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri stated on Friday that Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir’s submission of his resignation requires a “moment of contemplation that goes beyond the feelings of appreciation and respect for a career spanning a quarter of century.”

He said in a letter directed to the patriarch: “Throughout his career, he never hesitated in taking the position that falls in Lebanon’s interest and committing to principles that constitute Lebanese values.”