Speaker Nabih Berri stated on Wednesday that intense efforts are being exerted to speed up the drafting of the government policy statement within the next few days.

He said before MPs during his weekly meeting at parliament: “Based on the constitution, 30 days are given for the policy statement to be finalized … and therefore should the committee fail to do so within the deadline, the cabinet will be considered resigned, becoming a caretaker government.”

The March 14 General Secretariat stated on Wednesday that the ongoing talks, “led by the Syria and Hizbullah,” to draft a government policy statement are aimed at breaking Lebanon’s commitment with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The March 14 camp stresses that it will firmly confront any attempt to escape Lebanon’s international commitments.”

Premier Najib Miqati vowed on Wednesday to take the appropriate constitutional decision if a 12-member committee failed to draft the cabinet’s policy statement by the end of the constitutional period.

The prime minister stressed that contacts are ongoing between him and Speaker Nabih Berri, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, and Hizbullah in order to reach an agreement over the policy statement clause on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the government’s commitment to international agreements.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly stated on Wednesday that Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent statements against the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon are aimed at “deflecting attention away from internal tensions in the party.”

She said after holding talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun: “We discussed the new government and I repeated the U.S. decision which is we will judge the new government by its composition, its ministerial statement, and the actions it takes.”

A high-ranking source hinted on Wednesday that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would issue the indictment at a time when the Lebanese cabinet reached a positive stage by engaging in consultations to draft its policy statement.

“Every time we reach a positive stage, they brandish us with the indictment. This has happened in the past and is taking place today after the formation of the government and the start of consultations on the policy statement,” the source told As Safir.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been briefed on the content of the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder case and a copy of it was referred to the judicial department at the United Nations, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Wednesday.

“The release of the indictment is a matter of few days, if not hours,” sources told the newspaper.

Sources close to Premier Najib Miqati denied that he was exerting efforts through contacts with top diplomats to delay the release of the indictment by the international tribunal.

“This is untrue,” the sources told An Nahar daily published Wednesday about information that Miqati was seeking to postpone the announcement of the indictment’s details.

As Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji readies to visit U.S. and France, a Lebanese army delegation that recently visited Washington told officials there that the military was not willing to fight Hizbullah to serve Israel.

A high-ranking source told An Nahar daily that the delegation headed by Maj. Gen. Abdel Rahman Shehaitly was asked several questions about the alleged influence of Hizbullah on the army. But the answer was clear: “Hizbullah is a party that has a presence in Lebanon and mainly the south where it resists Israel. Is the army required to fight it to serve Israel?”

Opposition leaders met at the Center House on Tuesday night to discuss the upcoming stage following the expected release of the indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, An Nahar daily reported.

The newspaper said on Wednesday that the March 14 leaders also discussed alleged efforts by the new cabinet to circumvent the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

Lieutenant-Colonel Gokul Bhandaree, a military spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), on Tuesday clarified the circumstances of a clash that took place Monday evening between UNIFIL peacekeepers and Lebanese villagers near the southern town of Srifa.

"Yesterday … at around 8:30 pm a UNIFIL convoy coming from Beirut with newly arrived troops lost its way in the vicinity of the town of Srifa. The convoy was stopped by a group of local people and a stand-off ensued. Some of the people from the group threw stones at the UNIFIL peacekeepers,” the spokesman said.