The Special Tribunal for Lebanon held a second day of deliberations on Friday in the trial of four Hizbullah suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's Feb. 14, 2005 assassination.

The STL held its first in absentia hearing at the Hague on Thursday.

The Lebanese army arrested on Friday several Syrians for the possession of detonators in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported.

VDL quoted sources as saying that the arrest of the six suspects was made during a raid in the central Bekaa town of al-Rafid.

The United States welcomed the start of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s trial for four Hizbullah members accused of the Feb. 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.

“We have strongly supported the Tribunal’s efforts to hold accountable those responsible for destabilizing acts of violence in Lebanon,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement on Thursday.

The Hague - Naharnet Feature

It will be difficult on Hizbullah and its supporters to go on with the theory that Israel violated the telephone networks in Lebanon in an attempt to alter the data and point the accusation in the murder of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri away from the party's members and its prominent leaders after the extensive demonstration by Prosecution counsel Graeme Cameron during the opening session of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon trials in The Hague.

Lebanese actress and comedian Amalia Abi Saleh, who was in a coma after a long battle with illness, died at dawn at Bahman hospital in Beirut. She was 68.

In June last year, several hospitals refused to admit cash-strapped Abi Saleh for lacking social security. She was suffering from a respiratory tract infection.

An advisor to French President Francois Hollande was in Beirut on Friday for talks with top Lebanese officials on the $3 billion Saudi pledge to buy military equipment for Lebanon from France.

Emmanuel Bonne, who is Hollande's adviser on North Africa and the Middle East, arrived on a several day official visit. He will be joined in the next couple of days by Admiral Edouard Guillaud, the chief of the defense staff.

Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour said on Friday that the cabinet formation awaits a political decision by the March 14 and 8 alliances after the theoretical discussions ended.

The Progressive Socialist Party's minister said urged the rival parties in comments published in As Safir newspaper to swiftly agree on the new cabinet's lineup and overcome the remaining obstacles.

Head of al-Mustaqbal Parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora stressed that contacts are ongoing with the March 8 alliance over the cabinet formation process, noting that the remaining obstacle is the cabinet's ministerial statement.

Saniora expressed optimism, in comments published in al-Liwaa newspaper on Friday, over the progress of negotiations with the rival coalition.

The Hague - Naharnet Exclusive

The opening session of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon trials witnessed a recollection of the bloody scenes of February 14, 2005, as the incidents of that day were demonstrated through pictures, videos and the oversized maquette of the crime scene which was placed in the middle of the courtroom.

The Hague - Naharnet Feature

Former General Security chief Jamil al-Sayyed did not succeed in attaining the goals he had set by attending the opening sessions of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is probing the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.