Hizbullah official Nabil Qaouq stated on Monday that the release of the indictment in the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri will mark a new phase in Lebanon.

He said: "History will note that the phase after the indictment is not the same as the phase preceding it."

Labor Minister Butros Harb stressed on Monday that Hizbullah and its allies' demands to uncover the truth in the false witnesses case can be achieved through the Lebanese judiciary.

He said after holding talks with the Swiss Ambassador to Lebanon Ruth Flint that these demands can be achieved through the normal judiciary, and not the justice council.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday hit back at Speaker Nabih Berri and Syria's deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad.

"Lebanon will not return to Syrian hands," and not vise versa, Geagea told Radio Free Lebanon.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri told former U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison he feared another war with Israel would mean the "death" of his pro-Western March 14 alliance, leaked cables showed Monday.

A document reportedly obtained by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks and published on the website of local daily al-Akhbar quoted Hariri as saying he believed Hizbullah would rise again should there be another round of violence.

President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier Saad Hariri will meet on Monday on the occasion of the launching of the judicial year, ministerial sources told An Nahar newspaper.

Meetings among officials will gather pace with the return of Hariri to Beirut, they said.

President Michel Suleiman ends consultations with top Lebanese officials on Monday after holding talks with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat.

A source involved in the consultations that Suleiman started at Baabda palace last week, told An Nahar newspaper that the president would not announce the results of his talks anytime soon.

arliament Speaker Nabih Berri accused the majority March 14 coalition of paralyzing the Government.

Berri dismissed accusations that the Hizbullah-led Opposition was crippling the Government.

Lebanon on Monday finally received the much-awaited rain that helped douse dozens of forest fires, including a 7-day blaze on the outskirts of the Jbeil town of Fatri.

"The sky saved the earth," said the Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Saudi Ambassador Ali Awad Assiri said Monday that the Saudi-Syrian initiative aimed at ending the Lebanese crisis was not linked to the indictment that will be issued by the international tribunal in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case.

“The Saudi-Syrian initiative … is ongoing and will continue. It has nothing to do with a decision or the release of an indictment,” Assiri told Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri held talks on Sunday with Sultan Qaboos bin Said at the Bait al-Baraka Palace in Muscat on the latest regional and international developments and bilateral relations and ways to develop them.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Information Tareq Mitri, Minister of State Michel Pharaon, the Lebanese Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman Afif Ayoub, former MPs Ghattas Khoury and Bassem Sabeh, and advisor Hani Hammoud from the Lebanese side, and the Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs Youssef bin Alawai bin Abdullah and the Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to Lebanon Mohammad bin Khalil al-Jazmi.