All the Beirut news.

The removal of a wall, adjacent construction and moving groundwater are among the likely causes of a recent fatal building collapse in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood of Fassouh, a preliminary report revealed on Friday.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, who announced the report’s findings after heading a meeting for the follow-up committee tasked with probing the incident, said additional steps would be made before submitting a final report.

Hizbullah stressed on Friday the need for a productive government that can help alleviate the burdens of the Lebanese people, reported the National News Agency.

Hizbullah politburo member Ghaleb Abu Zainab stated: “It is therefore important for the governmental process to return to normal as soon as possible because its current paralysis will harm the Lebanese people.”

Beirut Examining Magistrate Ghassan Owaidat questioned on Friday four witnesses in the collapse of a building in Ashrafiyeh that left 27 people dead.

The National News Agency said Owaidat heard the testimonies of four engineers and postponed the hearing to February 17.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated that the March 14-led opposition is capable of toppling the government through popular protests.

He added however: “The current circumstances are not suitable for such an action.”

An Electricite du Liban bill collector has claimed that two gunmen stole more than LL4 million from him in the area of Rweiss in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the National News Agency reported Friday.

NNA identified the bill collector by his initials as A.Y.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati expressed confidence on Friday that the cabinet members will be able to eventually resolve the disputes among each other.

“I’m not in a hurry… I only care about the productivity (of the cabinet),” Miqati said in remarks published in al-Akhbar newspaper.

Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel stressed on Friday that an assassination attempt against his son, MP Sami Gemayel, had been thwarted although security forces tried to minimize the impact of the new revelation, saying the lawmaker had only been advised to avoid attending a dinner.

In remarks to al-Liwaa newspaper, the Phalange chief said: “We received information from the generate-directorate of the Internal Security Forces -the Intelligence Branch about a plan to assassinate MP Sami Gemayel whose preparations were made at the time and place where he would be.”

Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to deliver two speeches in the upcoming two weeks, according to newspapers published on Friday.

The first speech will be on Tuesday on the occasion of the Birth of the Prophet, while the second will be on February 16 during the annual “Martyrs' Leader Day.”

Environment Minister Nazem al-Khoury, who is loyal to President Michel Suleiman, revealed on Friday that the head of state has launched mediation efforts to resolve the dispute between Premier Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

Al-Khoury told An Nahar daily that Suleiman “is seeking to revive the cabinet sessions and the government’s work by either contacting the prime minister or the rest of the parties.”

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed confidence in the ability of Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun to resolve the cabinet crisis and reactivate its work.

“I am confident Miqati and Aoun are keen to safeguard the government and resume its activities,” Berri told An Nahar newspaper on Friday.

No contacts have been made yet with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to limit the sharp differences between his ministers and Premier Najib Miqati over the appointments of civil servants that led to the suspension of cabinet sessions, An Nahar daily reported Friday.

The newspaper said that Aoun’s son-in-law, Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, did not discuss the issue with Miqati on Thursday after he attended a ministerial committee meeting to discuss the leasing of power-generating vessels.

The March 14 leadership decided following days of consultations to mark the anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination on Tuesday Feb. 14 at the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center, An Nahar daily reported.

The newspaper said Friday that the coalition’s leaders also agreed to hold a mass rally at the Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut on March 14.

Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblat said Thursday that the fall of the Syrian regime will not result in Hizbollah handing over their weapons, and insisted on the adoption of a “political solution” in Syria rejecting a military intervention.

“It is crazy to bet that the fall of the Syrian regime will result in Hizbullah handing over its weapons,” he said during a talk show on LBC.

President Michel Suleiman stressed Thursday on the “mechanism which was adopted in the administrative appointments,”

He asserted that “PM Najib Miqati agrees with him and is fully committed to this mechanism.”

Lebanese Security Forces informed MP Sami Gemayel on Thursday about a plan to assassinate him at a certain time and date.

The Phalange Party's official website posted that the Lebanese Security forces informed MP Sami Gemayel on Thursday about a plan to assassinate him at a certain time and date."

The Head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Defense Office Francois Roux assigned permanent counsel to the four accused in the case Prosecutor v. Ayyash et al., announced the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a press release on Friday.

The Trial Chamber decided that the accused will be tried in absentia and on Wednesday Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen requested the assignment of counsel, it added.

The joint security and military by-committee for the Bekaa in Lebanon and Reef Damascus in Syria held a meeting on Thursday during which both sides suggested the formation of a joint military and security by-committee to monitor the situation along the border between the Bekaa and Reef Damascus provinces, reported the National News Agency.

The two sides also addressed the alleged arms smuggling from the Lebanese towns of Arsal, al-Tafil, Maarboun. And Deir al-Aashaer.

Speaker Nabih Berri stated on Thursday that Lebanon’s policy of distancing itself from the developments in the Arab world has preserved the Lebanese people’s interests.

He said: “Lebanon’s positive neutrality on all issues, except those related to Israel, has protected the country’s interests.”

Houses in southern Lebanon are a storage facility for missiles or rockets or a launch pad which are destructive and could hit the heart of the Israeli cities, Israel's chief of military intelligence, General Aviv Kochavi, warned on Thursday at a security conference.

Intelligence estimates, he said, showed "one in every 10 houses in south Lebanon is a storage facility for missiles or rockets or a launch pad for devices that are increasingly accurate and destructive."