The Hariri government fell after the withdrawal on March 8 of members from his cabinet following refusals to end cooperation with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Regarding the allocation of seats according to leaders' preferences, only Aoun and Mikati benefited from the formation of the new government, due to the increase in slots that they were given.

Member State of the Arab League Lebanon portal Prince Talal Arslan said he would resign after not being appointed the Defense Ministry portfolio.

He further accused Mikati of trying to ignite a conflict within March 8 by lying to the public and attempting to embarrass Hezbollah by stalling the formation of a new government.

Security officials said that his supporters in his stronghold of Khalde blocked the highway leading to the village and fired gunshot rounds in the air to protest Mikati cabinet.

Frankly, the Americans want to get their own man to head the [Lebanese] government...they repeatedly give us lessons in democracy.

Hariri ordered his Future Movement, while at the same time the 14 March alliance's secretariat general, had set a "management cell" to deal with day-to-day activities in opposition.

"[14] He also criticised Hezbollah's opposition to the STL saying that they were a part of the previous government that approved the country's cooperation with the tribunal.

"[17] Future Movement MP Khaled Zahraman said that there was a strain on the level of political discourse due to his claims that Aoun's rhetoric was increasingly more fiery and that the country could be headed towards a crisis.

[18] Following Mikati's first visit to southern Lebanon as prime minister, where he met army officers and made assurances of Lebanon's intentions to carry out UNSC Resolution 1701, the March 14 Lebanon First bloc MP Okab Sakr said that "[Mikati] wanted to assure Israel that Hezbollah's cabinet will preserve stability and does not want to change the rules of the game, and Hezbollah wanted to deliver a message through Mikati that the party will not target [Israel]."

[31] It was rumoured that in November, Mikati had ties approval of funding for the STL (which Hezbollah refused to support) which him staying in office or resigning.

[citation needed] Another Future Movement MP Atef Majdalani suggested that "[Former] Prime Minister Saad Hariri's return to Beirut is normal after [a few] months absence.

It also added that though Hezbollah's weapons liberated Lebanon following the departure of Israeli troops in 2000 it had "lost their legitimacy after they had been used against fellow Lebanese and after the party protected four of its members" who were indicted by the STL.

"This working paper seeks to eliminate the causes that led to the formation of this government: The domination of arms in political life and in the constitution.

"[citation needed] Another March 14 MP Boutros Harb said that he does support Suleiman's call to hold a national dialogue but on the condition that it addresses the issue of non-state arms, in reference to Hezbollah's arsenal.

He also added that the STL indictment issue could be resolved to avoid a "tense atmosphere" if the indictees were handed into the respective authorities.

He further noted that in his opinion March 8 would pressure the government into transferring the file on unreliable witnesses of the STL to the Justice Council, in what he termed would be "illegal."

"Fatfat later claimed that neither Aoun nor Mikati make any decisions as, according to him, Hezbollah holds full power over the government.

He said in reference to Aoun's threat to withdraw from the cabinet if it does not pursue development projects that "such decisions are in the hands of [Hezbollah Secretary General] Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Syrian President [Bashar Assad].

Hezbollah may feel at a certain [point] that it needs to obstruct the cabinet to avoid making big decisions linked to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and to dealing with the Syrian situation in the UN Security Council.

The Free Syrian Army kidnapped 11 Shia Lebanese four months ago, and until now, the government has done nothing to bring them back.

Those responsible are no longer at the level where they can control the situation, and these actions are the result of the Syrian government trying to destabilise Lebanon.

Mufti of Lebanon Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said that he had prepared his resignation before a usual cabinet meeting citing a negative climate.

It followed his attempt to form a committee to oversee the 2013 Lebanese general election in opposition to FPM, Hezbollah and Amal ministers, as well as an attempt to extend the term of Major General Ashraf Rifi, the head of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), who was scheduled to retire in April[39] due to mandatory age limit.

Following talks in Saudi Arabia and with the support of the Progressive Socialist Party and the March 14 Alliance, Tammam Salam was announced as the consensus candidate for prime minister on 4 April 2013.