Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Wednesday stressed “Lebanon’s right to protect all its borders and defend them against any violation.”

Miqati also emphasized that Lebanon has the right to benefit from its natural resources.

Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet is facing not only the challenge of commitment to the international tribunal but also Lebanon’s implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, Lebanese official sources said.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Monday that the government’s challenge is to meet the requirements of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon after the indictment that it issued in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination.

Former Premier Saad Hariri will on Tuesday respond to accusations that he was seeking to reach a compromise on ending the support for the international tribunal in return for staying in power, media reports said.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Saturday that in his first television appearance from Paris since he left Beirut, Hariri will respond to the accusations and will stress that he holds onto the principles of the Cedar Revolution and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that will try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s suspected assassins.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government on Thursday won a vote of confidence in parliament, after opposition MPs walked out en masse moments before the vote.

Miqati's government secured 68 out of a possible 128 votes in parliament, where Hizbullah and its allies hold a slight majority.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon telephoned Premier Najib Miqati to congratulate him on the formation of the cabinet and stress that the world body was committed to its support for Lebanon.

During their phone conversation on Wednesday night, Ban lauded Miqati for reiterating Lebanon’s respect for international resolutions.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati is in contact with all parties in an attempt to find a solution that is “acceptable to all those concerned” regarding the clause in the government Policy Statement which deals with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a source close to Miqati told Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

“PM Miqati’s stance is based on commitment to international legitimacy and he can’t make any step that might expose” Lebanon to the risks of defying international legitimacy, the source added.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Sunday wondered “whether Prime Minister Najib Miqati will be able to reconcile between what he’s been saying regarding keenness on (Lebanon’s) international relations … and the objectives of Hizbullah, which had designated him” as premier.

In an interview on Al-Jadeed television, Gemayel added: “We have no problem with PM Miqati or with the ministers, but the government was formed for certain purposes: preserving (Hizbullah’s) weapons and abolishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.”

Mustaqbal bloc MP Samir al-Jisr stated that President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati were receptive and understanding of Tripoli MPs’ request that the city be removed of its weapons.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Sunday: “A political and security agreement must be reached to follow up on this matter.”

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.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday presided over the fourth meeting of the ministerial committee tasked with drafting the Policy Statement of the new government.

The meeting did not tackle the controversial clause on the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon. However, briefing reporters after the meeting, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq denied that the conferees had decided to leave the issue to the country’s national dialogue committee.