The speeches that will be made at the February 14 ceremony marking the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri will primarily focus on local developments and then Syrian crisis, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

It added that it remains to be seen which members of the Syrian National Council will give a speech at the event, which will be held at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri on Friday called on the Arab countries to recognize the opposition Syrian National Council as the “legitimate representative” of the Syrian people.

Hariri warned about “the dangers of the war waged by the Syrian regime against the growing popular revolution across Syria,” said a statement released by his press office.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati reiterated that cabinet sessions will remain suspended unless he receives promises from ministers that they will be productive, demanding those who don’t want to abide by the government’s decisions to resign.

“I have set a basic rule: you either implement the cabinet’s decisions or if you don’t want to abide by them resign,” Miqati told the pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat on Friday.

France is aware of the pressure exerted on Premier Najib Miqati which he is courageously confronting, Lebanese diplomatic sources in Paris said on Friday.

In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on the occasion of Miqati’s official visit to Paris, the sources said that France shares with the PM his concerns on the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati arrived to France on Thursday on a three-day visit to meet with senior officials amid a cabinet crisis locally.

Miqati prepared answers to specific French questions concerning protecting the refugees and the free Syrian Army, LBC reported.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati ordered on Wednesday the closure of public and private institutions and schools on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14.

The March 14 leadership decided to mark the anniversary on Tuesday at the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader Fouad Saniora revealed on Wednesday that he discussed with President Michel Suleiman a day earlier the controversial deployment of the Lebanese army in northern areas bordering Syria.

“We discussed a lot of issues, including the government (crisis), the situation in the region, the economy, the deployment of the army in the North, the security situation and (verbal) attacks on the president and the premier,” Saniora told An Nahar daily.

Sources close to Prime Minister Najib Miqati have denied that the PM’s visit to Paris this week is a “prize” for his decision to fund the controversial Special Tribunal for Lebanon that will try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s suspected assassins.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published Tuesday, the sources said Miqati rejects for his visit to be described as a “prize” over his decision in November to pay Lebanon’s share to the STL through the Higher Relief Council.

A member of the Syrian National Council is likely to participate in the February 14 ceremony marking the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper on Sunday.

It explained that the presence of a member of the council will demonstrate the March 14 camp’s support for the Syrian revolution.

The March 14 leadership decided following days of consultations to mark the anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination on Tuesday Feb. 14 at the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center, An Nahar daily reported.

The newspaper said Friday that the coalition’s leaders also agreed to hold a mass rally at the Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut on March 14.