Prime Minister Saad Hariri kicks off a three-day official visit to Paris on Tuesday in what is seen as the most significant step in international efforts aimed at stirring Lebanon away from its crisis.

“The French leadership will inform PM Hariri that it stands by him and his government,” French diplomatic sources told al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri denied on Thursday that he received a phone call from U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman during Wednesday's Cabinet session.

Hariri's Press Office stressed in a statement that this information is fabricated, incorrect, and baseless.

A consensus on postponing the thorny issue of "false witnesses" until after the Eid al-Adha holiday was reached during Wednesday's cabinet session, "after each side stated its point of view," Information Minister Tareq Mitri said after the session.

Mitri quoted President Michel Suleiman as saying that "there is no use of putting the issue -- of referring the false witnesses issue to the Judicial Council -- to the vote of the cabinet."

Hizbullah has reportedly unleashed a simulation of the zero hour aimed at holding both a security and military grip on Lebanon and corner Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

A report published Monday by al-Akhbar newspaper said that prior to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's Oct. 28 speech a "main Opposition group was carrying out an electronic, field simulation for the assumed zero hour."

Judge Antonio Cassese, President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, on Friday stressed STL's "firm intention not to bow to any act of interference and intimidation in carrying out our mandate in an independent and fair manner."

In separate letters addressed to Premier Saad Hariri and U.N. chief Ban Ki Moon, Cassese conveyed the tribunal's "great concern about the incident which took place in Beirut on 27 October and resulted in the injury of STL staff and the unlawful removal of STL property."

Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday stressed that "Lebanon will not fall into discord or into the absence of dialogue, or into (the dominance of) one opinion."

"Lebanon will not fall out of its democratic, Arab and free identity. Lebanon will always remain a sanctuary for coexistence and total parity between Muslims and Christians," Hariri said in a speech he delivered at a ceremony organized by the Suleiman Olayan School of Business, at the American University of Beirut, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri is expected to arrive in London on Monday as part of a two-day visit to the UK where he will meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Foreign Secretary William Hague, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York.

The talks are set to focus on regional and international developments, bilateral relations, and ways to develop them.

MP Sami Gemayel noted on Tuesday that Syria aims to establish good ties with Prime Minister Saad Hariri on condition that he abandon his March 14 allies and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

He told LBC during his ongoing trip to the United States that Washington assured him that it supports the international tribunal and Lebanon’s sovereignty, denying allegations that the U.S. position towards these matters had changed.

Hizbullah on Friday called on authorities to back down on a request to summon former head of Lebanon's General Security Department Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed.

State Prosecutor Jamil Sayyed on Thursday demanded to summon Sayyed for threatening State security and Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Monday that those "speaking of strife are the ones behind it and preparing for it."

He stressed after meeting Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail the need to maintain the civil peace, emphasizing that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is the "highest international legal authority."