Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. (Photo:Reuters)
Lebanon's president offered an upbeat assessment of the year ahead in a Christmas message Saturday, despite tensions about looming indictments over the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
"The political impasse in Lebanon is moving towards a solution" and 2011 "will be the year of launching the government's work," Michel Suleiman said during Christmas mass in Bkerki, a town north of the capital Beirut.
"We hope that the year 2011 will witness stability and economic prosperity," he said according to a statement from his office. "We have to agree on preventing what could hurt our unity."
A UN-backed probe into Hariri's assassination is reportedly set to indict high-ranking operatives of Lebanon's Hezbollah, the powerful Shia movement which is backed by Iran and Syria.
Hezbollah has warned against any attempt by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to arrest its members, raising fears of instability in the multi-faith Mediterranean country.
But Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain ex-premier, has vowed to see the court through.
The standoff has sparked fears of renewed violence in Lebanon following the STL indictments, and regional power-houses Saudi Arabia and Syria have scrambled to find a settlement that would please Lebanon's feuding camps.
The country's unity government is in paralysis ahead of the expected indictments, with the work of the cabinet frozen by the impasse.
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