Special Tribunal for Lebanon President Judge Antonio Cassese considered the efforts made by Lebanese authorities to find the four suspects in ex-PM Rafik Hariri’s murder as reasonable but called on them to intensify their attempts to arrest the four men.

“Whilst Judge Cassese deemed their efforts to be reasonable he also called on the authorities to intensify their attempts to arrest the accused,” the STL said in a statement.

Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh said on Thursday that ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s hatred has overcome the national interest since the assassination of his father on Feb. 14, 2005.

Franjieh, in remarks to al-Manar television, said that Hariri placed the murder of his father in a position higher than Lebanon and its stability.

Contacts are ongoing between Hizbullah, the Free Patriotic Movement and AMAL to discuss the steps that should be taken after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri published the indictment, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

The STL published on Wednesday the indictment after it said there was enough evidence to try four Hizbullah members in the murder of Hariri.

Eight hand grenades were found on Thursday in a box on the Barbara highway near the city of Jbeil, media reports said.

The National News Agency said the grenades were found lying by the side of the highway. A black plastic bag was found next to them.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Thursday that the cabinet will continue to respect international resolutions especially those linked to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.

“The cabinet that made a commitment in its ministerial statement to respect the international resolutions particularly with regard to the STL and the international justice,” Miqati stressed.

Former Premier Saad Hariri snapped back at Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah saying the party chief was seeking to put the entire Shiite sect in confrontation with his “fictitious schemes.”

“The accused are identified by name and Hizbullah is admitting that it is hiding them,” Hariri said in remarks to Future News TV late Wednesday about the four suspects accused of involvement in Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination.

The United States on Wednesday again urged Lebanon to work with the international tribunal, which says it has enough evidence to try four Hizbullah members in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

The call came after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon unsealed the indictment of the four men and said the evidence was sufficient to go to trial over the February 2005 car bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon lacked sufficient evidence to implicate members of his group in the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri.

"What the tribunal published confirms what we have been saying for months, that the investigation is neither transparent nor scientific," said Nasrallah in a nationally televised speech broadcast hours after the Netherlands-based court unsealed its indictment.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas inaugurated Wednesday the Palestinian embassy in Lebanon and hoisted the Palestinian flag atop its building, after the Lebanese cabinet officially recognized the state of Palestine and approved to raise the level of diplomatic representation with it.

Flanked by Prime Minister Najib Miqati, the Palestinian leader also unveiled a plaque commemorating the event.

The head of the Mustaqbal bloc former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora noted on Wednesday that the information published in the indictment in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon presents strong and solid evidence of the involvement of the four Hizbullah members suspected in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

He said in statement: “We are not seeking revenge, but we want to achieve justice.”