Hizbullah expanded its telecommunications network in several towns in the district of Zahle after its project failed in the Metn town of Tarshish, highly informed sources told al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

The sources said Thursday that the installment was made in the towns of Riyaq, Hawsh Hala and Hay al-Sellom several days ago.

American Jewish blogger Richard Silverstein has claimed that Israel was behind the explosion that rattled the Hizbullah stronghold of Siddiqin in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

Media reports have said that the explosion went off in a Hizbullah arms depot but the Lebanese army attributed the blast to a mine or cluster bomb.

The military advisor to Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei has warned Israel against attacks on Iran's nuclear sites saying Hizbullah would retaliate with its Katyusha rockets.

Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi told Iran's Arabic-language satellite channel al-Alam that in case of an attack by Israel, Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will join the fighting.

Premier Najib Miqati told the cabinet on Wednesday that he expects the government to discuss the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon next week and hoped that each party would assume its responsibility towards the controversial issue.

An Nahar daily said Thursday that several cabinet ministers inquired Miqati about reports that he intended to resign if the cabinet failed to pay its 49 percent share to the STL - $33 million this year.

National Struggle Front ministers will resign from the cabinet if the government refused to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a minister from the bloc told An Nahar daily.

“Whether (Prime Minister Najib) Miqati resigned or not, the National Struggle Front ministers will resign from the cabinet if the funding of the STL wasn’t approved,” the minister, who is loyal to National Struggle Front leader MP Walid Jumblat, told the daily.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Najib Miqati to “submit his resignation today rather than tomorrow or to jump off the boat, which is approaching the rocks.”

“The Lebanese state has not granted refugee status to those who fled to Israel (in 2000). Let the government classify them as refugees and let Miqati quit if he does not have the majority in cabinet to do that,” Geagea said during an interview on Future News television.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon Trial Chamber has decided Wednesday to await a response from the Lebanese authorities on their efforts to arrest the accused before deciding whether to begin proceedings in absentia, it announced in a statement.

“The Trial Chamber has requested STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to file a progress report by 8 December on the response of the Lebanese authorities,” it added.

The army command announced on Wednesday that the Siddiqin explosion that took place overnight may have been caused by a mine or cluster bomb left over from Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

It said in a statement that army units headed to the scene of the blast and conducted a wide search throughout the night and during the day on Wednesday without finding anything.

March 14 General Secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid questioned on Wednesday the double standards adopted in tackling security issues in Lebanon, asking why it is easy for the army to enter the town of Arsal while it is prevented from entering the town of Siddiqin.

He wondered after the General Secretariat’s weekly meeting: “Why was it allowed to pursue Syrians in Arsal, while the army, which is responsible for protecting Lebanon and implementing U.N. Security Council 1701, was thwarted from heading to Siddiqin?”

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour is expected to travel to Cairo on Thursday to participate in the Arab foreign ministers emergency meeting on Syria in light of the end of the deadline granted to the state to implement reform.

On Lebanon’s stance on the ministers’ decision, Mansour told the National News Agency: “We will wait and see what step they will take and then we will make ours.”