BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati has come to the decision that Lebanon will pay its share of funds to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon without referring to the Cabinet, ministerial sources told The Daily Star.

The sources said that the Prime Minister’s Office could either transfer the funds to the Foreign Ministry or the Justice Ministry, which in turn would pay the $32 million owed this month.

According to the sources, Mikati made up his mind after his return from Paris and in light of what he heard from European and U.S. officials regarding the repercussions of a failure to implement U.N. resolutions related to the STL.

The sources explained that Mikati could not bear the “disasters” that would befall Lebanon as a result of a decision to not pay Lebanon’s financial contribution.

Mikati did not coordinate his decision with Hezbollah or any other party represented in the Cabinet, the sources said, adding that the prime minister will convey what he was told in Paris that led to his decision to the factions in the Cabinet, chief among them Hezbollah.

The same sources said it was likely that Hezbollah would oppose such a step but would not make it a subject of division inside the Cabinet or make threats to withdraw its ministers from the Cabinet if the move was taken.

The STL was formed by the U.N. to try the assassins of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and other figures. It released its indictment in June 30 naming four Hezbollah members, one of whom is a leading party figure.

The party denies involvement and slams the court as an “Israeli tool” targeting the resistance. Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, has said that the indicted men could not be arrested even “in 300 years.”

Speaking during an interview with Al-Jadeed television station Sunday evening, Mikati hinted that Lebanon would fund the STL in line with relevant U.N. resolutions.

“Lebanon is a founding member of the United Nations and we will not be selective in implementing international resolutions; I will not give Israel a pretext to sack [Lebanon] from the international community or to impose sanctions [on Lebanon].”

The sources said staying on Mikati’s good side of will yield larger benefits for Hezbollah than if the party objected to the decision, as such a step would affect neither the functions nor the funding of the STL.

The sources expected that President Michel Sleiman and Mikati would discuss Lebanon’s payment of its share to the STL with U.N. officials, chiefly among them U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, during their visit to New York later this month.

Separately, the Cabinet will convene Wednesday at the Grand Serail for its last session this month prior to Sleiman and Mikati’s trip, with 98 items on agenda.

Among these items is the ratification of an executive protocol for a higher education cooperation agreement between Lebanon and Iran in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The ratification of a special higher education and scientific research agreement between the Lebanese and Syrian cabinets along with the ratification of a cultural cooperation program between the Lebanese and Russian Culture ministries for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 are also on agenda.

Ministers will also discuss agreements proposed by the Council for Development and Reconstruction to fund construction of sewage infrastructure in a number of areas in Lebanon, along with draft decrees to grant licenses to associations wishing to register.