An Iranian judicial delegation, headed by deputy Justice Minister Abdul Ali Mirkouhi, held talks in Thursday with caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on the investigation into the twin bombings that targeted the Iranian embassy in Beirut in November, reported the National News Agency.

The delegation voiced its readiness to cooperate with and offer its expertise to Lebanese authorities in the ongoing investigation and their fight against terrorism.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc stated on Thursday that it looks forward to the establishment of Iranian-Lebanese ties based on mutual respect to each country's people, lamenting that this has not yet happened.

It said after its weekly meeting: “Iranian support for Lebanon does not lies in diplomatic statements, but in ceasing to employ Hizbullah in the fighting in Syria.”

March 14 independent MP Butros Harb stressed that the March 14 alliance has an agreement over the broad headlines of the cabinet formation process, stressing that the formation of a neutral cabinet remains better than vacuum amid the delicate situation Lebanon is passing through.

“There is a comprehensive meeting over the main principles with the Lebanese Forces,” Harb said after talks with head of the LF party Samir Geagea in Meraab on Wednesday night.

The in absentia trial of four Hizbullah members accused of murdering former Premier Rafik Hariri in February 2005 opened at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague on Thursday.

The February 14, 2005 seafront blast killed 22 people including Hariri and wounded 226, leading to the establishment by the U.N. Security Council of the STL in 2007.

Lebanese politicians denounced on Monday the terrorist suicide bombing that targeted the Bekaa town of Hermel, a stronghold of Hizbullah, considering it a further attempt to “ignite the situation in the country.”

President Michel Suleiman called for solidarity among politicians and the Lebanese people to “fortify the country.”

A car bombing targeted on Thursday the eastern town of Hermel, a Hizbullah stronghold, killing at least three people and wounding more than 26, in an attack claimed by an apparent al-Nusra Front offshoot.

The explosion ripped through Hermel's main square where the Serail is located. Hermel is a predominantly Shiite town and lies near the Lebanon-Syria border.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat expressed fear on Thursday that the ongoing developments in the region would have negative repercussion on Lebanon, saying that Saudi Arabia voiced consensus over formation of a new cabinet.

“The formation of a new cabinet will persuade lawmakers to attend parliament session, which would facilitate the presidential elections,” Jumblat said in comments published in al-Akhbar newspaper.

Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil stressed on Thursday that the Free Patriotic Movement is working on dismantling the acute political lineups, accusing the March 14 alliance of contradicting itself.

“We are contributing with the political foes to bridge the gap and reach an all-embracing cabinet,” Bassil said in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper.

Government formation process has reached a deadlock after a dispute over the cabinet's ministerial statement between the political foes, local newspaper reported on Thursday.

Sources told As Safir newspaper that the cabinet formation is expected to be delayed as the March 14 alliance is holding on to its conditions to include the dissociation policy in the ministerial statement and excluding the the formula of the “Army,people, and resistance.”

The Hague - Naharnet Exclusive

Lebanese politicians who are in the Netherlands to attend the start of the trial in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's Feb. 2005 assassination have rejected to discuss about the new cabinet formation process and stressed that “The Hague is for the court and Beirut is for the government.”