Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has named a fifth civilian suspect in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, informed diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.

The sources told al-Liwaa daily that the suspect is a politician and not a party militant or a member of a secret security service.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare on Monday addressed a farewell letter to the Lebanese people on the occasion of the end of his tenure, stressing that he did his job “objectively” and noting that “historic days lie ahead for justice and the People of Lebanon.”

Bellemare will leave office at the end of this month. In November 2007 he was assigned by U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon as the commissioner for the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) into the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, replacing Serge Brammertz of Belgium.

The judges of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon have approved some amendments to the tribunal's Rules of Procedure and Evidence, said the STL in a statement on Monday.

There were a limited number of changes, which clarified the existing rules especially in relation to victims, it added.

The indictments in the assassination of former Communist party chief George Hawi and attempted assassinations of former ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias Murr may result to new leads in other assassinations that had taken place in Lebanon, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

Opposition sources revealed to the daily that indictment in these three cases will be released within 10 to 12 days.

The renewal of the protocol signed between the Lebanese government and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will likely take effect soon after Beirut failed to make its observations, al-Liwaa daily reported Saturday.

The newspaper said that a document calling on the U.N. Security Council to renew the tribunal’s mandate became part of the official U.N. documents on Friday at around 5:00 pm New York time and will likely be approved soon if the Council expresses no reservations on it.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea slammed on Friday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s accusations that the March 14 camp is placing conditions on resuming the national dialogue.

He said during the launch of the LF charter: “We do not set conditions on the talks and you have never even seriously approached the national dialogue.”

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare referred a new indictment to Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen in the attacks on the three Lebanese officials that have been linked to ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

Sources close to the prosecutor’s office told the daily that Bellemare referred to Fransen in the past few days the new indictment in the assassination attempts of MP Marwan Hamadeh, ex-Defense Minister Elias Murr, and the murder of former Communist party leader George Hawi.

The Mustaqbal bloc praised on Thursday U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s decision to extend the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s mission for three years, saying that it spared Lebanon heated political disputes.

It accused the March 8 camp of seeking to destabilize the country, blaming it of stirring the clashes that erupted between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in Tripoli on Friday.

President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday said that Lebanon “took notice” about U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s letter regarding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon cooperation protocol.

He briefed ministers of foreign affairs and justice, Adnan Mansour and Shakib Qortbawi, on the content of the letter he received from Ban through the foreign ministry.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders praised on Wednesday the Lebanese government for funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and hailed the Belgian-Lebanese bilateral relations.

“We are eager to continue our cooperation with the United Nations Security Council for the upcoming three years,” Reynders said after meeting with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail.