A battle is raging over key portfolios in the new government -- most notably the interior, defense and justice ministries.

An-Nahar newspaper on Wednesday quoted sources following up on the issue of Cabinet formation as saying that Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati is seeking to create a one-sided, 24-strong government after the March 14 coalition announced it will not participate.

Egypt accused Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of “walking in the footsteps of his mentor,” Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

“They all want to ignite the region,” Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Husam Zaki told the Saudi al-Watan daily about Nasrallah and Khamenei.

More than six years after a U.S. Marine corporal was charged with desertion for allegedly faking his own kidnapping in Iraq, his family is once again making rumblings about clearing his name.

The effort, however, wouldn't play out in military court. Instead, the Utah family of Wassef Ali Hassoun contacted a Los Angeles publicist in search of a $1 million book and movie deal.

Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated that the government formation process was not facing obstacles and expected the cabinet line-up to be ready this week.

Berri told As Safir daily in comments published Wednesday that Premier-designate Najib Miqati would “form the cabinet this week after some parties refused to join the national salvation government.”

Lebanon will soon have a government -- most likely to be made up of 24 ministers that include members of the Hizbullah-led March 8 camp as well as technocrats and centrists.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati met late Tuesday with President Michel Suleiman in hopes for a quick announcement of a Cabinet lineup.

The members of the so-called Hizbullah cell that have escaped during a mass prison breakout are most probably still in Egypt, Hizbullah circles told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Wednesday.

“All we can say is that the members of the cell and (its leader) Sami Shehab are doing well,” they said, adding they believed that the network’s members were still in Egyptian territories “or else the party would have made an official statement and welcomed them in a proper way.”

British Foreign Secretary William Hague voiced concern over possible conflict between Israel and Hizbullah following last month's collapse of the Lebanese government.

"The scale of any military conflict that may happen between Israel and Hizbullah is growing, because of the growth of armaments in the area," Hague told the London Times in comments published Wednesday.

Russia on Tuesday called for the U.N. Security Council to carry out a mission to the Middle East, including Lebanon and Egypt.

The Security Council has not visited the troubled region for more than three decades. Russia's U.N. ambassador Vitaly Churkin said council envoys should go to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on Tuesday discussed the recent political developments in the country in separate meetings with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel and caretaker Labor Minister Boutros Harb.

"Ambassador Connelly reiterated that the U.S. views the formation of a new Lebanese government as an exclusively Lebanese process that should remain free from outside interference," said a communiqué released by the U.S. Embassy following Connelly's talks with Geagea.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday called for "joining efforts so that Lebanon can continue to be a country that is adhered to its democratic political system in the face of pressures seeking to turn it into a totalitarian (country) controlled by (foreign) hegemony."

In a communiqué issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc condemned "the return to the rhetoric of weapons … rigged elections and stolen (parliamentary) representation," stressing the importance of "pressing forward towards the rise of the State."