President Michel Suleiman has emphasized to his visitors on Monday the need to include the Baabda Declaration in the new government's policy statement, reported the daily al-Joumhouria on Tuesday.

Widely informed sources told the daily that Suleiman will not, “under any circumstances,” accept the elimination of the Baabda Declaration from the statement.

Head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad hailed on Monday the formation of a new government, while warning against attempts to exploit political rivalries in Lebanon to create Sunni-Shiite strife.

He said: “Lebanon can only be governed by all of its factions.”

MP Mohammed Raad, the head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc, reassured Sunday that the party will not “betray our people's national dignity” through its participation in Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet, which was formed Saturday after an 11-month impasse.

“We demanded an all-embracing cabinet because the others wanted an eliminationist, neutral and de facto cabinets,” Raad said during a memorial service in the southern town of Aitaroun.

Hizbullah on Friday warned that any “ploys and maneuvering” in the cabinet formation process might “topple the results that are sought” from the formation of a new government.

The party has called for “forming an all-embracing cabinet comprising all national components so that it can confront all political, security, economic and social problems,” said MP Mohammed Raad, head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc.

Head of Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad on Monday met with President Michel Suleiman in Baabda and repeated the “advice” of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who had called for avoiding a “de facto cabinet.”

"The meeting was positive and represented the best response to reports claiming ties were severed between the two parties," Hizbullah's al-Manar television quoted sources close to Baabda as saying.

Lebanese officials warned against Israel taking any “unilateral” steps in demarcating its maritime border in the areas near Lebanon, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth daily said that Israel is seeking to demarcate the maritime border in the area disputed with Lebanon through a draft law that will be proposed at the Knesset.

President Michel Suleiman has relations with all the political parties in Lebanon and has no enmity with any of them, Baabda Palace officials said.

The officials, who were not identified, told An Nahar daily published on Thursday that “the president is in continuous contact with all the political parties.”

Baabda palace officials denied that President Michel Suleiman was seeking to form a de facto cabinet along with Premier-designate Tammam Salam but confirmed that he would take action before the end of his term in May next year.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published on Saturday, the officials said that Suleiman will take into consideration the regional and local situation before taking any action on the government crisis.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam has shrugged off criticism about the non-constitutionality of a de facto government, saying the new cabinet would be constitutional immediately after the president signs the decree.

In remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Saturday, Salam said: “Any discussion about a neutral or non neutral cabinet is political.”

Head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad stressed on Tuesday that Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has clear evidence that Saudi Arabia was behind the November 19 bombing near the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

He said after holding talks with former President Emile Lahoud that “President Michel Suleiman was quick in responding to Nasrallah” and defending Saudi Arabia.