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Miqati Says ‘Sabotaging the Nation is a Crime,’ March 14 Suffering from ‘Disorder’

Prime Minister Najib Miqati snapped back at the March 14 alliance on Monday accusing its members of carrying out a crime against the nation and attacking the cabinet for being unable to confront the truth that they lost power.

“Sabotaging the nation is a crime,” Miqati said in a statement. “It is the national responsibility of everyone to preserve civil peace and stability and not to sabotage or make fictitious heroic acts that stir tension.”

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Suleiman Meets Miqati, Decree Appointing Replacement to Arslan to be Issued Soon

President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati held talks at Baabda palace on Monday to agree on a replacement for Talal Arslan, who has announced his resignation from the new cabinet.

Media reports said a presidential decree is expected to be issued soon naming Marwan Kheireddine as the new minister of state without portfolio.

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Riyadh and Cairo Link Justice in Hariri Case to Lebanon’s Stability

The Saudi and Egyptian foreign ministers have agreed that justice should be served in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination to achieve stability in Lebanon, informed sources said.

Al-Liwaa daily quoted the sources as saying that Egyptian FM Mohammed al-Orabi and his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal stressed during talks they held on Sunday that the questioning of the suspects is the only way to deter the offenders and end the series of assassinations that shook Lebanon in the past years.

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March 8 MPs to Give Appropriate Response to Opposition during Parliamentary Sessions

The March 8 MPs are looking forward for calm parliamentary sessions and will not resort to escalatory rhetoric out of their keenness on the country’s stability, a high-ranking source in the parliamentary majority told As Safir daily Monday.

The source said, however, that if March 14 MPs make escalatory statements, then the March 8 lawmakers would give the appropriate response.

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Opposition Coordinates Stances Ahead of Parliamentary Vote of Confidence Sessions

The opposition has coordinated the stances it would make during parliamentary sessions to discuss the cabinet’s policy statement starting Tuesday, March 14 General-Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid said.

Soaid told Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) that opposition lawmakers have agreed on the role of each MP during the sessions that are scheduled to take place for three days and are aimed at giving the vote of confidence to Premier Najib Miqati’s government.

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Roknabadi Describes Indictment as ‘Politicized’, Rules Out Israeli Attack

Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi described the Special Tribunal for Lebanon indictment in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri as “politicized,” saying he supports a “non-politicized” international justice.

“We are keen that no one in Lebanon objects that Israel is the enemy, despite the differences over the techniques of the resistance,” Roknabadi told As Safir newspaper on Monday.

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Report: New STL Arrest Warrants Against More than 14 Suspects Soon

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is expected to issue in the coming months more arrest warrants in the case of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination, informed sources told al-Liwaa daily published Monday.

The warrants could be issued before or shortly after the 30-day period granted to Lebanon to serve out the STL warrants that were handed to Lebanese authorities last week. If the suspects are not arrested within that period, the tribunal can then publicly call on the four Hizbullah members to surrender.

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Miqati Says Truth and Justice Correlated, Vows Not to Remain Silent to ‘Smear Campaign’

Premier Najib Miqati said Monday that the truth in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder and stability go hand in hand, stressing that it was his responsibility to preserve Lebanon’s stability.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper, Miqati said: “There is a correlation between the truth and stability.”

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Al-Mashnouq: Hizbullah Ministers Should Quit ‘Cabinet of Treason’

Al-Mustaqbal MP Nohad al-Mashnouq called on Hizbullah ministers to quit their posts in the cabinet, saying there can’t be Hizbullah members in the government at a time when the party’s militants are wanted for involvement in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder.

The Hizbullah ministers should quit “until the truth” is found in Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, he said.

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March 14 Calls on Miqati, Cabinet to Commit to 1757 or Step Down

Following a broad meeting for the March 14 forces at the Bristol Hotel in Beirut on Sunday, the coalition called on Prime Minister Najib Miqati and his government to announce their commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1757, which established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, or step down.

“As a national, democratic opposition … we call on the premier to openly and directly declare his commitment to Resolution 1757 in parliament on Tuesday morning, and to announce his commitment to the practical steps for implementing this resolution, or to step down along with his government,” the March 14 forces said in a statement recited by former premier Fouad Saniora after the meeting.

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