High-ranking opposition sources shrugged off the latest statements made by the premier and the Progressive Socialist Party chief over the Free Patriotic Movement leader’s verbal attacks.

“The final word is made by Syrian policies which are expressed by (FPM chief Michel) Aoun,” the sources told An Nahar daily published Wednesday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has expressed fears that the U.S. will settle scores with Syria in Lebanon through targeting the new Lebanese cabinet.

“According to the opposition and the so-called international community, this is Hizbullah’s cabinet, which means Syria’s (government),” Jumblat told al-Akhbar newspaper on Tuesday. “Then avenging Damascus would be by a fierce battle through imposing sanctions on Lebanon.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said that only national dialogue among the country’s political factions would prevent the country from “sliding into strife.”

In remarks to As Safir daily on Monday, Jumblat said: “After the drafting of the cabinet policy statement we should return to the national dialogue table which alone could protect us from the slide into strife and turmoil.”

The Mufti of Tripoli and the North Malek al-Shaar launched on Saturday a series of contacts with officials from Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in the wake of Friday’s clashes.

His contacts are aimed at paving the way for holding a meeting to set the appropriate mechanisms to end the unrest in the northern city of Tripoli.

Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan rejects to return to Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet and is considering the nomination of his relative Marwan Kheireddine to replace him as state minister, sources close to the MP said.

An Nahar daily reported Thursday that Druze leader Walid Jumblat and Miqati discussed the issue during a meeting they held the day before. Efforts are underway to convince him not to give up his post and that he apologizes from Miqati over his remarks.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said he agreed with Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that social and economic affairs should be the cabinet’s top priorities.

Jumblat described his latest meeting with the Hizbullah chief as “excellent.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Wednesday described the new government as a “broad national coalition,” stressing that “it was not imposed by outside forces as some have claimed” and that it is not “one-sided.”

Following talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati in Beirut’s Verdun district, Jumblat added: “The atmospheres are excellent despite the delay in forming the cabinet … Each of us has made sacrifices, each in his own way.”

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat have stressed the importance of close cooperation between the different members of the cabinet to guarantee its success.

A statement released by Hizbullah’s press office on Wednesday said that Nasrallah held talks with Jumblat, who was accompanied by Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi, along with the presence of Hizbullah official Wafiq Safa.

National Struggle Front MP Walid Jumblat said that the new majority proved that it can form a government, noting that it can pass the test and confront the economic and social problems to provide citizens with stability.

“We proved to March 14 forces that we can govern the country, and they have to admit it,” Jumblat told the pan-Arab al-Jazeera news channel on Monday night.

Sources close to President Michel Suleiman have stressed that Najib Miqati’s cabinet is a “consensual government” that allows the head of state, the premier and the leader of the National Struggle Front to push it towards centrism.

The sources told al-Mustaqbal daily in remarks published Tuesday that the cabinet is consensual and allows Suleiman, Miqati and Walid Jumblat “to put their centrist touches on it.”