Prime Minister Saad Hariri has reportedly accepted the settlement proposed by Saudi Arabia and Syria but the March 8 forces did not take any step forward.

Sources close to Hariri told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Thursday that the premier "accepted the Saudi-Syrian deal but unfortunately, the other side has until now made no positive step."

Al-Mustaqbal movement officials confirmed that President Michel Suleiman and Premier Saad Hariri were making strong efforts to hold a cabinet session immediately after New Year.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Wednesday that there are now more than 500 items on the cabinet agenda and most of them are linked to people's daily lives.

Sources close to Prime Minister Saad Hariri denied a compromise was in the offing over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

"Talk about a settlement and compromise is unrealistic and does not exist," one source told the daily An-Nahar in remarks published Wednesday.

Remarks attributed to Syrian President Bashar Assad were reportedly considered as an "urgent message" to Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Assad on Tuesday reportedly informed Saudi Arabia that if the Kingdom wanted Lebanon to remain strong, it should reject the indictment that will be issued by the international tribunal in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination case.

Saudi Arabia is putting more pressure on Prime Minister Saad Hariri to reject the Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the 2005 assassination of his father ex-PM, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on its website.

In return, it said, Hizbullah would guarantee Hariri that it would not harm him. Hizbullah would also avoid any overt military activities and Hariri would be allowed to maintain his own security apparatus.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah have accepted the Saudi-Syrian initiative in all its details, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that all sides involved in the agreement between Damascus and Riyadh to solve the Lebanese crisis, primarily Hariri and Nasrallah, were informed about the deal.

French Ambassador Denis Pietton said Wednesday that he reiterated to Premier Saad Hariri French commitment to support and provide equipment to the Lebanese army.

After meeting with Premier Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail, Pietton said he delivered to the prime minister a letter from his French counterpart Francois Fillon in which he reiterated Paris' commitment to help the Lebanese military.

Security agencies protecting Prime Minister Saad Hariri are using advanced Israeli equipment that detects hostile forces several kilometers away, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.

It quoted Israeli police as saying that the equipment functions in waves that are difficult to track and block.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told the leading newspaper An-Nahar that the Opposition awaits response to its offer from Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

"We (Opposition) have proposed a purely Lebanon-made solution," Berri said in remarks published by An-Nahar on Wednesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri has unleashed a last-minute effort to reach a compromise on the false witnesses' issue, his political aide Ali Hasan Khalil announced.

Khalil, in remarks published Tuesday by the daily An-Nahar, said Berri was working in his capacity as a political leader in the Opposition camp.