A U.N.-backed court probing the 2005 murder of Lebanon's ex-premier Rafik Hariri on Thursday submitted a sealed indictment and arrest warrants to the country's prosecutor general, Lebanese officials said.

Here are some key events in since Hariri's assassination:

Below are the most frequently asked questions about the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as published on the court's website.

The STL was set up in The Hague in 2007 by the United Nations to try those alleged to have carried out the bomb attack that assassinated former PM Rafik Hariri.

The March 14 forces hailed the indictment and arrest warrants submitted to Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case on Thursday.

"This is a big day for Lebanon," March 14 General-Secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid told Agence France Presse. "We have been waiting for this for six years.

Media reports have stated that the indictment in the murder case of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri includes the names of four suspects: Mustafa Badreddine, who is close to Hizbullah, Salim Ayyash, Hassan Aneissy, known as Hassan Issa, and Assad Sabra.

Born in 1963 in the southern town of Harouf, Ayysah is a Civil Defense volunteer and a member of Hizbullah.

Three judges from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon handed over to General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza on Thursday a copy of the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case.

The indictment urges Lebanese authorities to issue arrest warrants against four Lebanese that are close to Hizbullah, media reports said.

Hizbullah sources said the Shiite party had succeeded in absorbing the strife-prone impact of the indictment that is expected to be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Thursday, the sources said: “We expect the indictment to be issued any moment but we consider ourselves that we succeeded in absorbing its strife prone impact.”

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been briefed on the content of the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder case and a copy of it was referred to the judicial department at the United Nations, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Wednesday.

“The release of the indictment is a matter of few days, if not hours,” sources told the newspaper.

Sources close to Premier Najib Miqati denied that he was exerting efforts through contacts with top diplomats to delay the release of the indictment by the international tribunal.

“This is untrue,” the sources told An Nahar daily published Wednesday about information that Miqati was seeking to postpone the announcement of the indictment’s details.

Opposition leaders met at the Center House on Tuesday night to discuss the upcoming stage following the expected release of the indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, An Nahar daily reported.

The newspaper said on Wednesday that the March 14 leaders also discussed alleged efforts by the new cabinet to circumvent the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

Lebanon was in a wait-and-see situation on Tuesday after reports that the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination would be issued by the international tribunal soon.

While some media reports said that the Lebanese authorities have already received a copy of the indictment, most officials, including Prosecutor Saeed Mirza denied.