Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh said on Thursday that ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s hatred has overcome the national interest since the assassination of his father on Feb. 14, 2005.

Franjieh, in remarks to al-Manar television, said that Hariri placed the murder of his father in a position higher than Lebanon and its stability.

Former Premier Saad Hariri snapped back at Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah saying the party chief was seeking to put the entire Shiite sect in confrontation with his “fictitious schemes.”

“The accused are identified by name and Hizbullah is admitting that it is hiding them,” Hariri said in remarks to Future News TV late Wednesday about the four suspects accused of involvement in Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri called on Wednesday Hizbullah to sever ties with the suspects in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, urging it to take “an historic stand” to cooperate with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

He said in a statement: “Hizbullah and its chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah should put an end to the policy of evading the STL, cooperate with the tribunal, and hand over the suspects in order to ensure the establishment of a fair trial.”

Al-Mustaqbal movement stressed on Wednesday it will not remain silent over any rhetoric that affects it, noting that Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem’s accusations don’t serve soothing the political and sectarian tension in Lebanon.

High-ranking sources in al-Mustaqbal told As Safir newspaper that Qassem’s stance is probably to express the tension that the party is going through after the release of the international tribunal’s indictment.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has no intention to return to Lebanon any time soon, where political and security issues force him to remain abroad, the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Wednesday.

“He controls the timing of his return (to Beirut),” al-Mustaqbal movement sources told the newspaper.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned on Tuesday Iran’s position on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, noting that it is “exactly” like Hizbullah’s.

He said in a statement: “The Iranian position is an integral part of a policy aimed at limiting the STL’s work and preventing justice from being achieved.”

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil criticized the failure to approve the electricity draft law, which he said will reflect negatively on the government because of its inability to resolve a matter that is as important as electricity.

He told As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Saturday: “What kind of message are we delivering to our opponents and the people? … I don’t think the country can persist like this.”

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s recent statement on Lebanese affairs is aimed at “preempting developments” in order to prevent further debate over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a leading official in the March 14 camp told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday.

He justified this position by saying that the tribunal is no longer up for discussion as it was approved based on United Nations Security Council resolution 1757 and an agreement at the national dialogue in 2006.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Samir al-Jisr on Friday denied telling al-Joumhouria daily that former premier Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat had held talks in Turkey last weekend.

In the remarks attributed to him by the newspaper, al-Jisr allegedly wondered why people would be surprised if two high ranking officials met. "Al-Mustaqbal movement has kept a thin thread with Jumblat," the daily quoted him as saying.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea advised former Premier Saad Hariri to remain abroad over security fears and described Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat as Master Sergeant Hans Georg Schultz of an American TV sitcom.

Schultz was known in the Hogan's Heroes sitcom of simply looking the other way, repeating "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!"