Premier Najib Miqati intended to send a friendly message to the March 14 forces by hugging Fares Soaid, the coordinator of the coalition’s general secretariat, during a dinner hosted by the president at his hometown of Amsheet on Saturday.

A guest who attended the dinner banquet thrown by President Michel Suleiman in honor of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, told An Nahar daily on Sunday that Miqati first shook hands with Soaid and then hugged him in front of the cameras.

Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi slammed on Wednesday former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s “inciting remarks” against Premier Najib Miqati and himself on Tuesday, saying they “will provoke people against each other in Tripoli and other areas.”

“We had hoped that Hariri would have attended the parliament sessions to grant cabinet confidence instead of talking about in Paris through statements that don’t reflect his position,” said his press office in a statement.

A high-ranking source in the March 8 forces said that the majority agrees with former Premier Saad Hariri that it won’t be able to change anything in the indictment issued by the international tribunal.

But the source told As Safir daily on Wednesday that experience in the past six years showed that the U.S. and Israel are capable of changing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s accusations.

Former premier Saad Hariri stressed Tuesday that “nothing will be changed in the indictment” issued last month by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon along with arrest warrants for four Hizbullah members in the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, “even if (Hizbullah chief) Sayyed (Hassan) Nasrallah holds 300 press conferences.”

“I will return to Beirut as soon as possible,” Hariri, who is currently in Paris, announced in an interview on MTV, when asked whether his next interview will be broadcast from the Lebanese capital.

Hizbullah ministers have informed several cabinet members that they were planning to propose a discussion on the controversial issue of false witnesses in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case during cabinet sessions.

Ministerial sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Tuesday that Ministers Mohammed Fneish and Hussein al-Hajj Hassan are planning to open up the subject during government sessions.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s television appearance Tuesday night is expected to set the roadmap for the opposition during the upcoming phase in Lebanon under Premier Najib Miqati’s government.

The daily An Nahar Monday reported that he will address all major issues in Lebanon, especially the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati will keep top Sunni personalities in their “sensitive posts” despite previous campaigns by his allies to remove them for being close to former Premier Saad Hariri, ministerial sources said.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Monday that among the officials that Miqati intends to keep in their posts are General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza, Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and head of the Intelligence Bureau Col. Wissam al-Hassan.

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.

Former Premier Saad Hariri does not intend to return to Beirut soon after receiving information from Western leaders about the possibility of being targeted in an assassination plot, sources close to the Mustaqbal movement leader said in remarks published Friday.

The sources said that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and high-ranking U.S. and U.N. officials have warned him about the plot.

The head of the Mustaqbal bloc former Premier Fouad Saniora voiced on Thursday his support for the rotation of power in Lebanon, saying that if the March 8 camp won the majority then it would have had the right to form a government.

He said during the parliament session to discuss the government policy statement: “It however assumed power through the use of weapons and we reject this and we refuse to succumb to it.”