Opposition sources criticized the ongoing rapprochement between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, saying that it is aimed at paving the way for an alliance between the two sides ahead of the 2013 parliamentary elections.

They told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published on Sunday that Suleiman chose an inappropriate time for this rapprochement given the MP’s recent hostile remarks against the opposition and March 14 camp.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Speaker Nabih Berri are likely to reach an appropriate phrasing of the clause on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the government policy statement that would not “antagonize” the international community, a ministerial sources told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat in remarks published on Sunday.

It added that Hizbullah would be able to “bear such a phrasing” until February 2012 when the cooperation agreement between Lebanon and the STL expires, which the new government will likely not renew.

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday congratulated Lebanon on the formation of Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet and expressed hope that all the countries in the region would live in peace.

Benedict told Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi that he hoped the government would “succeed since Lebanon is facing great challenges whether due to the local economic crisis” or regional events.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel reportedly froze a decision by Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi to promote more than 400 officers.

Al-Akhbar daily said Saturday that Charbel ordered a freeze on the promotion of the 400 policemen to sergeants.

The nomination of Marwan Kheireddine to replace Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan in the cabinet is facing obstacles after some parties objected the nomination unless Kheireddine vows not to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat reported on Saturday that Kheireddine’s uncle MP Anwar Khalil, who is a Free Patriotic Movement ally, objects naming him as state minister unless he guarantees not to announce his candidacy for the Druze seat in Hasbaya-Marjayoun in the next parliamentary elections.

Hizbullah is moving its arsenal from Syria over fears that the anti-Assad demonstrations would lead to regime change, a Western expert closely following up Iranian-Syrian ties told the French daily Le Figaro on Saturday.

The expert confirmed that Western intelligence had monitored the movement of trucks from the Syrian border to eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa valley.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri hasn’t decided yet to return to Beirut over security fears, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Saturday.

“The ex-PM’s return to Lebanon is connected to security issues,” sources told the newspaper.

Premier Najib Miqati has informed President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri about his vision on the clause of the international tribunal in the cabinet draft policy statement, informed sources said Saturday.

While the sources refused to give details on Miqati’s proposed formula, they told al-Joumhouria daily that the prime minister asked both Suleiman and Berri to study his proposal and give him their remarks.

The March 14-led opposition slammed Hizbullah Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech, saying the way PM Najib Miqati was nominated confirms that the cabinet was not formed in Lebanon.

“The coup on (former PM Saad) Hariri’s cabinet … confirms that the appointment and formation of the government was not Lebanese at all,” March 14 sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's charges that the Central Intelligence Agency had infiltrated his group in Lebanon were "empty accusations," a U.S. embassy spokesperson said Friday.

"These are the same kinds of empty accusations that we have repeatedly heard from Hizbullah," the spokesperson told Agence France Presse shortly after Nasrallah made the allegations in a televised speech.