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.”

The Hague - Naharnet Exclusive

The arrival of former General Security chief Jamil al-Sayyed at the seat of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague to attend the trial in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination caused a stir among the relatives of the victims in the series of bombings that targeted Lebanese figures since the assassination attempt against MP Marwan Hamadeh in October 2004.

Two suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri are in Iran while the rest “have been killed,” the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday.

"Western intelligence agencies believe that the two prime suspects in Hariri's assassination are in Iran,” Der Spiegel said.

The March 14 general-secretariat considered on Wednesday that the launching of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's work opens the door for "justice and eventually, reconciliation and forgiveness in the country."

“With this trial, a new era starts in Lebanon and it is the era of international justice that is based on international law," the general-secretariat said in a released statement after its weekly meeting.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived on Wednesday evening in The Hague to participate in the first session of the trial of the four suspects accused of carrying out the assassination of his father, late premier Rafik Hariri.

Hariri arrived to The Hague from Paris on board a private jet and he was accompanied by deputy Speaker MP Farid Makari, MPs Marwan Hamadeh and Sami Gemayel, former minister Bassem Sabeh, ex-MP Ghattas Khoury, and Hariri's chief of staff, Nader Hariri, a statement released by the ex-PM's office said.

The Hague - Naharnet feature

The positioning of journalists who flew to The Netherlands to cover the first session of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon reflects the division and the rift in the Lebanese society towards the trial of the alleged assassins of former premier Rafik Hariri as representatives of local media outlets checked into different hotels in The Hague and the municipality of Leidschendam, each according to their political views and their opinions on the works of the STL.