Report: Miqati Confirms to Hariri STL Funding

Prime Minister Najib Miqati confirmed to his predecessor PM Saad Hariri that he supports the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, An Nahar newspaper reported on Thursday.

“I announced it from day one, and I insist on my position,” Miqati informed Hariri on different occasions by sending him messages via different mediators, the daily said.

Miqati’s sources stressed that he will not be an “obstacle” facing the STL, which is set to try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s suspected assassins.

They told As Safir daily that “amending the (STL’s) protocol can’t be achieved without carrying Lebanon’s commitments” towards the tribunal first.

The sources warned of abandoning the country’s international commitments, saying that if Lebanon “didn’t fund (the tribunal), Lebanon and the resistance will have to bear serious repercussions.”

“Miqati has the ability to convince those who oppose the funding by committing to it,” they told the newspaper.

However, a high-ranking parliamentary source from the March-14 led opposition told al-Mustaqbal newspaper that Miqati “will have to abide by Hizbullah’s will.”

Miqati had continuously voiced his commitment to the funding of the STL. He received at the end of September a message from U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon requesting Lebanon to pay its $33 million dues.

However, Hizbullah Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ruled out on Monday that his party will support the funding of the court, stating that if the cabinet failed to reach consensus on the matter, then it should be submitted to vote at the parliament.