Syrian President Bashar Assad personally intervened to persuade Hizbullah to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, revealed the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah daily on Saturday.

March 8 circles told the daily that the Syrian president sought to fund the STL in order to preserve Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government because the Syrian regime considers it as a “necessity.”

The President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Judge Sir David Baragwanath will be directly answering questions from Lebanese citizens and journalists on Twitter next week, announced the STL through the social networking website on Friday.

It added that details on the session will be revealed next week.

Lebanon was plunged into darkness Friday after employees shut down the Zahrani power plant in southern Lebanon after receiving threats from the local municipalities and street thugs, revealed Electricite du Liban in a statement on Friday.

It explained that the threats stemmed from the transportation of a MVA 40 transformer from the plant to Sidon’s main power plant.

The Change and Reform bloc has criticized the articles that have been placed on cabinet’s agenda for Wednesday, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

Sources from the bloc deemed the result as a “bad sign and poor start for the resumption of government’s work.”

The Progressive Socialist Party revealed Friday that its leader MP Walid Jumblat “will only lay a flower on the tomb” of his father, slain Druze leader Kamal Jumblat, on the latter’s birthday on Sunday, after several media reports suggested that Jumblat would deliver a key speech on the occasion and that he was seeking to revive the Democratic Gathering.

A statement issued by PSP’s media department said Jumblat will commemorate the occasion “with friends and comrades.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stated on Friday that Lebanon was successful in tackling its duty of funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which he said helped serve justice.

He said during the opening of the 55th Arab International Book Fair at Biel: “Lebanon was victorious in the funding and now governmental work will be resumed once again.”

Hizbullah announced on Friday that it had foiled an attempt by Israel to spy on its telecom network that is installed between two southern towns, prompting Israel to detonate the device through which it tried to infiltrate the group’s network.

“The Islamic Resistance thwarted an Israeli spying attempt on the telecom cable installed between the towns of Srifa and Deirkifa,” Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television reported, noting that “Israel detonated the spy device through an unmanned aerial vehicle.”

LF leader Samir Geagea criticized on Friday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Thursday, accusing him of taking contradictory positions on the matter.

He asked before reporters at Maarab: “If the STL were an American-Israeli product as you claim, then wouldn’t it have been better for your majority to resign and force Premier Najib Miqati to step down as well in order to prevent the tribunal funding?”

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri slammed on Friday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent speech on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying that it reflected his annoyance with the decision to fund the tribunal.

He said in a statement: “A thousand speeches like Nasrallah’s will not eliminate Lebanon’s recognition of the STL.”

Syrian troops wounded three people when they opened fire on the north Lebanon border on Friday, witnesses and a medical official said, prompting the Lebanese army to deploy along the border.

"The army has taken all necessary security measures to protect citizens and is patrolling the northern border area," read a statement released by the Lebanese military.