Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri blamed on Wednesday the 15-year civil war for the current reality in Lebanon where “sectarian statelets and armed groups” have been established to serve internal and regional interests.

He said in a statement marking the 36th anniversary of the eruption of the Lebanese civil war: “The memory of the war should remain in the past and we hope that it will not be repeated.”

The March 14 camp believed that Michel Suleiman’s election as president would “embarrass” Hizbullah and harm Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, revealed a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar newspaper on Wednesday.

The November 4, 2007, WikiLeaks cable spoke of a meeting between the head of the Mustaqbal movement Saad Hariri and then U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffery Feltman during which the former informed him that the March 14 camp had not reached an agreement over a presidential candidate, less than a month before then President Emile Lahoud’s term was scheduled to end.

Saudi Arabia was fully convinced that Assef Shawkat, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law, was conspiring to kill caretaker PM Saad Hariri and former PM Fouad Saniora, according to a WikiLeaks cable.

During a meeting with then U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, Saudi chief of mission Abdul Aziz Khoja described Hizbullah as “the devil,” according to the cable dated November 3, 2007 and published Wednesday by al-Akhbar daily.

The United States initially opposed Michel Suleiman’s election as president, revealed a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Wednesday.

The October 16, 2007, WikiLeaks cable spoke of a meeting between then Army Commander Michel Suleiman and then U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman during which the former rejected claims that he was a “Syrian agent”, voicing fears over what Damascus had in store for Lebanon.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams hoped that the seven kidnapped Estonians bicyclists would soon return safely to their families for they came to Lebanon “with no ill intent and their early return to their own country I think is of the utmost importance.”

Williams discussed the situation in Lebanon and also the dramatic developments in the broader Arab region with Hizbullah International Relations Official Ammar Moussawi on Tuesday.

Iraq’s ambassador Omar Barazanji on Tuesday expressed frustration over reports in al-Akhbar newspaper which he described as interference in the country’s internal affairs and incitement against violence.

Barazanji accused the daily of publishing information that increase tension in Iraq.

A war of words between Lebanon's pro-Western and Iranian-backed camps has sparked fears of a backlash in the Mediterranean state over a "cold war" between Shiite Muslim Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.

"This war of words is further evidence that the Lebanon's internal crisis is intrinsically linked to a regional showdown," said Fadia Kiwan, head of the political science department at Saint Joseph University in Beirut.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat refused to consider that al-Mustaqbal movement was defeated in the elections of the Engineers Syndicate in Iqlim al-Kharroub.

Jumblat remarked Monday to As Safir daily that the Sunni independent candidate in Iqlim al-Kharroub, backed by the new parliamentary majority, won Sunday’s elections.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah expressed pride in the party’s ties with Iran and slammed Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri for allegedly “making a big mistake” in harming Lebanon’s relations with Tehran.

“We are proud of our relationship and alliance with Iran and Syria,” Nasrallah said in a statement broadcast on television on Saturday night.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat voiced his annoyance with the renewal of the political and media dispute between Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hizbullah.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday: “Based on my experience with Hizbullah and the Shiite sect, Hariri must understand the party’s cultural and ideological structure and its connection with Wilayat al-Faqih.”