The March 14-backed opposition is mulling to reject President Michel Suleiman’s invitation for national dialogue over claims that Hizbullah’s arms are no longer acceptable.

An Nahar daily quoted March 14 decision-makers as saying that the opposition might not respond to Suleiman’s request given that it has already launched a campaign against Hizbullah’s weapons and the discussion of the issue during all-party talks is useless.

Speaker Nabih Berri said that the cabinet led by PM Najib Miqati is promising. He stressed the importance of exerting efforts to intensify the government’s weekly meetings so that citizens would feel the difference.

As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday that Berri suggested that the cabinet should hold a special session to highlight the basis and the principles that Interior Minister Marwan Charbel should follow while drafting the elections law.

The government is planning to release a group of 30 Islamists who have been held since the Nahr al-Bared clashes in 2007 without prosecution, An Nahar daily reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that the move comes after the authorities released over the weekend Sheikh Nabil Rhim who was transported to the northern port city of Tripoli by a vehicle sent to him by Premier Najib Miqati.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Tuesday that Lebanon will remain committed to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing ex-premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

“It is not in our hand to eliminate … the tribunal by any means and we will proceed in this,” Miqati said in an interview with CNN.

The government is planning to bring back to the discussion table the issue of false witnesses which was a source of major controversy between pro and anti- cabinet forces during the tenure of former Premier Saad Hariri.

An Nahar newspaper said Tuesday that Prime Minister Najib Miqati discussed the issue with Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi on the sidelines of the government session held at the Grand Serail a day earlier.

The European Union has expressed concern over “the absence of an explicit commitment” to the international tribunal in the cabinet’s policy statement.

The EU “expects that the new government will ensure promotion of stability, unity, sovereignty and independence of Lebanon in full respect of the constitution and the rule of law,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs Council at the conclusion of its talks in Brussels on Monday.

The cabinet on Monday approved the appointment of deputy military intelligence chief Brig.-Gen. Abbas Ibrahim as the new director-general of the General Security Department.

Ibrahim was also promoted to the rank of Major General.

Hizbullah was allegedly behind the failed attempt in May to assassinate Moshe Kimchi, Israel’s consul in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Italian daily Corriere della Sera has reported.

“Hizbullah was seeking to assassinate consul Kimchi to avenge the liquidation of Iranian nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi at the hands of the Israelis,” the newspaper quoted sources in Washington as saying.

A delegation of European Union ambassadors stressed on Monday the need for Lebanon to fully implement United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 as stipulated in its government’s ministerial statement.

It welcomed in a statement after visiting the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon headquarters at Ras al-Naqoura the cabinet’s commitment to cooperating with the international force.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi announced on Monday that he supports justice and uncovering the truth in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri through the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on condition that the truth not be based on false leads.

He said during his visit to Jbeil: “No one can construct the state and head to the national dialogue if they believe that they have the ultimate truth.”