Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri noted on Saturday that the 2013 parliamentary elections will mark a “major turning point” in Lebanon’s history.

On Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s remarks that the March 14 forces will not hold the elections in light of the party’s possession of arms, he replied: “The ballot boxes are the best reply to his statements.”

Defense lawyers before the U.N.-backed court probing former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri's murder sought Wednesday to have the tribunal's creation declared illegal and unfit to judge their clients.

Lawyers for Salim Ayyash -- one of four men wanted for trial in connection with Hariri's car bomb death in 2005 -- asked "the trial chamber to find that the establishment of the court was not legal."

Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef said on Tuesday that the defense office can contradict the claims of the prosecution in 2012, stressing that the Lebanese authorities are obliged to cooperate with the lawyers.

Youssef revealed in an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper, that the prosecutor’s office provided the defense office with 28,000 pages on the investigations in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder and related crimes.

The trial of four Hizbullah members indicted in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination will be held late 2012 or early next year, Special Tribunal for Lebanon sources told the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai on Monday.

“The trial of the accused in former PM Rafik Hariri’s murder whether in their presence or in absentia will start between the end of this year and March of next year,” the sources said.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon tweeted on Thursday a reminder that Friday is the deadline for the Defense to file motions challenging the jurisdiction of the Tribunal over the February 14, 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

It said via Twitter: “This will be another milestone towards trial in the case of Ayyash et al.”

Former chief U.N. investigator Nick Kaldas stressed that there is solid evidence and concrete facts in the assassination case of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The STL “isn’t politicized and the case is based on concrete evidence,” Kaldas told An Nahar newspaper on Monday.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon President Judge David Baragwanath is expected to preside a confidential meeting for the Appeals Chamber at 10:00 am Wednesday, al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

The meeting is set to tackle the defense team’s reservations on the final date set for the trials in absentia before receiving the complete accusation files.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Wednesday that the decision of pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen to set a deadline for challenging the court’s jurisdiction is another milestone towards trial in the case of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

Four Hizbullah members - Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra – have been indicted by the STL in Hariri’s Feb. 2005 killing.

The deputy head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s Defense Office, Alia Aoun, has informed the Registrar that she intends to return to practice as an attorney, the court said in a press release on Tuesday.

“Following the start of the judicial phase of the STL on 1 February 2012, it is now primarily for the Defense Counsel to ensure the protection of the rights of the accused and equitable justice,” the statement quoted Aoun as saying.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea revealed on Wednesday that he was the victim of an assassination attempt at his Maarab residence.

He announced during a press conference: “We will not halt our revolution no matter how hard they try and political leaders must take the necessary security precautions.”