U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim Robert Watkins stressed on Monday the importance of maintaining peace and stability in Lebanon at this time of dramatic changes in the region.

He said after holding talks with Speaker Nabih Berri at Ain al-Tineh: “In that regard, I very much welcomed the role that the speaker played last week in finding a solution to the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. His role was very much appreciated by the United Nations.”

The controversial false witnesses issue in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination emerged to the surface again after PM Najib Miqati announced paying Lebanon’s dues to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

“It’s still too early to decide on the issue,” Miqati’s visitors told An Nahar newspaper on Monday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea linked the shutdown of the Zahrani power plant to the attack on a clergyman and the media in Lassa and the attempt to expand Hizbullah’s telecom network in Tarshish.

“What happened in Zahrani is part of the events in Lassa and Tarshish” and the repeated violations of the Syrian army of Lebanon’s border, Geagea told al-Joumhouria daily published Monday.

Speaker Nabih Berri warned on Monday that he will call for a parliamentary session to inquire the cabinet about Lebanon’s offshore oil wealth project.

“After the Special Tribunal for Lebanon crisis was resolved, the cabinet should turn to the oil (exploration project) … I will not accept any delay,” Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman has said Washington has evidence that Tehran and its Lebanese ally Hizbullah are bolstering Syria’s Assad regime.

Speaking in Amman, Feltman told reporters that Syrian President Bashar Assad is pegging his ruling Alawite minority against other sects and implementing his "own prophesy, which is moving Syria into more chaos and a civil war."

Operations have resumed at the Zahrani electricity plant, which will return to its full capacity starting Monday morning, Electricite du Liban announced Sunday, after media reports said contacts between Premier Najib Miqati and Speaker Nabih Berri had managed to resolve the crisis.

“Today, Starting 1:00 pm … work began to gradually reconnect the Zahrani plant to the grid, which will become fully functional Monday morning … should no technical problems arise due to the forced and sudden suspension of production units for around 48 hours,” EDL said in a statement.

March 14 general-secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid described the shutdown of the Zahrani power plant as a “militia act” that should be confronted.

“We are facing a behavior of a militia that targets all sectors and lately the Zahrani power plant,” Soaid told An Nahar daily published Sunday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat praised on Thursday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s decision to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, criticizing however some reactions from the opposition, which he deemed unreasonable.

He said in a statement: “Some opposition members should have reacted to it positively rather than focusing on their personal interests.”

Speaker Nabih Berri voiced on Wednesday his satisfaction with the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying that it falls in the country’s interests.

His visitors reported him as saying: “The government should now focus on tackling various pressing issues.”

President Michel Suleiman said on Wednesday that the collapse of the cabinet will have negative repercussions on Lebanon as Speaker Nabih Berri expected that the majority will reach a safe haven concerning the crisis.

Sources close to Suleiman told As Safir newspaper that the president agreed with officials he met on Tuesday that “no one has an interest in forcing the collapse of the current cabinet.”