Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met Thursday with Mohammad Reza Bahonar, Deputy Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran (parliament), who was accompanied by a parliamentary delegation, Hizbullah’s press office said.

The meeting, which was also attended by Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi, tackled the latest developments in Lebanon and the region and the means of possible cooperation between Lebanon and Iran, the press office added.

The dispute in the Jbeil District town of Lassa is not between political parties or movements, it is rather a property rights dispute and it will be tackled in a spirit of dialogue and coexistence, the media department of the Maronite Patriarchate said Thursday in a statement.

The statement was issued following a meeting in Bkirki on Wednesday for the follow-up committee that emerged from the recent broad Maronite meeting in Bkirki.

March 14 MP Butros Harb snapped back at Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, saying the party’s chief never proposed a defense strategy to the national dialogue conferees in 2006.

“All what Nasrallah proposed at the time was his point of view in anticipation of the proposal of the defense strategy along with Speaker Nabih Berri,” Harb told An Nahar daily published Wednesday.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed Tuesday that his party “will overcome the conspiracy of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and emerge stronger than before.”

“A resistance movement that was not shaken by the most powerful air force in the region will not be shaken by (STL Prosecutor Danielle) Bellemare, (Pre-Trial Judge Daniel) Fransen, (STL President Antonio) Cassese or some mercenary writers,” Nasrallah said.

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem stated on Tuesday that the government’s functioning began despite the obstacles issued by some sides aimed at hindering its mission.

He noted that the cabinet’s recent agreement on various appointments in state positions is a sign of the productivity it is aspiring for.

The head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad stated on Tuesday that the government advocated the “equation of victory of the army, people, and Resistance.”

He added: “The enemy and its masters want to target the Resistance because it represents what is left of dignity in this world.”

The March 14-backed opposition is mulling to reject President Michel Suleiman’s invitation for national dialogue over claims that Hizbullah’s arms are no longer acceptable.

An Nahar daily quoted March 14 decision-makers as saying that the opposition might not respond to Suleiman’s request given that it has already launched a campaign against Hizbullah’s weapons and the discussion of the issue during all-party talks is useless.

Hizbullah will seek to adopt an attitude of defiance against the second phase of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s indictment, reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

Informed sources said that the party “will not back down an inch from its convictions to avoid appearing that the indictment had affected its resolve.”

The March 14-led opposition has said it would be useless to meet with the March 8 forces stressing that President Michel Suleiman should provide guarantees for a productive national dialogue before inviting for all party-talks at the Baabda palace.

High-ranking sources in al-Mustaqbal movement, the pillar of March 14, told As Safir newspaper Monday that the previous experience with dialogue was bad over the non-implementation of any decision reached between the conferees, including the international tribunal, the disarmament of Palestinians outside camps and the demarcation of the border with Syria.

Francois Roux, the head of the Defense Office of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, noted Sunday that those indicted by the court in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri can participate in the trials in absentia by dispatching their lawyers to court’s headquarters in The Hague.

In an interview with Al-Jadeed television, Roux said the Defense Office will not be directly in charge of defending the suspects, noting that he will rather name defense teams that will choose their own strategy and that the office will only aid them in their mission.