Lebanese gov't pays STL dues

Lebanon's Prime Minister announced Wednesday that his government paid its 36 million U.S. dollars share of the annual funding for the divisive Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is probing the 2005 assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri."This morning I transferred Lebanon's share of the budget for the tribunal," Najib Mikati said during a large-scale conference at his headquarters in the Grand Serail.Mikati, who had threatened to resign if funding for the tribunal was not secured, said he refused to take part in a government that does not abide by international resolutions and commit to its international obligations."This is a national decision to preserve Lebanon," the prime minister told reporters.Political sources told Lebanon's English-language newspaper The Daily Star that the money to pay the dues for the STL came from the budget allocated to the office of the prime minister.The Netherlands-based tribunal accused in June four members of Shiite armed group Hezbollah of involvement in the 2005 assassination of Hariri.Hezbollah and its Christian ally the Free Patriotic Movement, headed by MP Michel Aoun had previously rejected the funding of the tribunal.But Hezbollah's Shiite ally, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who played a major role in brokering the agreement to fund the STL, said that what happened was in the "best interest of Lebanon."