Head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, former premier Fouad Saniora, warned Monday that “those who disavow the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would be exposing Lebanon to danger.”

In an interview on MTV, Saniora said “financing is one of the aspects of dealing with the tribunal, but respecting the protocol signed between the Lebanese state and the STL is what’s important.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat voiced on Monday his support of the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, adding that the party understands Hizbullah’s insecurities over the matter.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Keeping in mind its reservations, Hizbullah should cooperate positively with the issue of the funding in order to ease the tensions on the internal Lebanese scene.”

The President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Judge Sir David Baragwanath, will be visiting Lebanon this week for the first time, the U.N.-backed court said Monday in a statement.

Baragwanath will be accompanied by the Vice-President of the Tribunal, Judge Ralph Riachy, the STL said.

Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi hasn’t so far expressed his opinion on a letter sent to the cabinet by Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi demanding a loan from the treasury to pay Lebanon’s share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s budget, sources said Monday.

The sources told several dailies that Qortbawi’s lack of response goes back to the need to hold consultations with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and to his belief that the cabinet should decide on the matter.

The March 8 forces said that the controversial issue of funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon requires more discussions, expressing belief that the issue will not be on the cabinet’s agenda during Friday’s session.

The parliamentary majority and the government that is led by the March 8 forces didn’t object on putting the issue to vote at the cabinet, An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday.

Premier Najib Miqati is facing decisive 9 days during which he has to work hard to urge the cabinet into approving the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Miqati’s visitors quoted the prime minister as saying over the weekend that the cabinet should take the decision on the funding. “The time that we tried to gain is over.”

The U.N. Security Council and the European Union will take “measures” against Lebanon if Lebanon doesn’t fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, sources close to French decision-makers warned.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Sunday that Lebanon’s rejection to pay its 49 percent share would lead to a “troubling situation that would force the international community to take measures … at the level of the Security Council and the EU.”

The moment of truth has come and the course of funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has reached its final stage, visitors quoted Prime Minister Najib Miqati as saying.

The visitors told An Nahar daily published Sunday that Miqati said: “The time that we tried to gain is over and we should take the decision” on the funding.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati is scheduled to travel to the Vatican on November 28 where he is expected to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

It noted that the visit is significant as it is part of efforts to keep Lebanon away from the political changes in the region given the division the developments in Syria have created among the government forces and opposition in Lebanon.

The March 14-led opposition is seeking to withdraw confidence from Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour in its attempt to topple the government, Ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Friday.

Opposition sources told the daily that the government’s position at the Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Syria proved that the cabinet is dominated by Hizbullah and the March 8 forces.