BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati Thursday said Hezbollah will understand the decision to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, adding that a Cabinet session will be scheduled next week.

“I am confident that all Lebanese parties and primarily Hezbollah and its wise leadership will understand this step and recognize the critical situation that we are going through,” Mikati told reporters at the Grand Serail.

“The national interest and the political reality will always triumph any other considerations,” he added.

Mikati’s remarks came a day after he announced that $3.6 million had been transferred to the STL in a bid to pay Lebanon’s share of the U.N.-backed court’s annual budget.

The Hezbollah-lead March 8 coalition, representing the majority in the government, has voiced their rejection to the tribunal altogether, questioning its credibility and constitutionality. 

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah is expected to address the STL issue in a televised speech Thursday night.

In late June, the STL indicted four Hezbollah members in the 2005 assassination of former statesman Rafik Hariri in Beirut. Hezbollah has described the four suspects as “honorable” men in the resistance, adding they will never be apprehended.

Mikati, who was named prime minister in January by the March 8 alliance, also said that the work of the government will resume and a Cabinet session will be scheduled next week.

“[I] will call for a Cabinet meeting next week to follow up on social, administrative and development issues that the government has been handling since its formation ... especially in terms of approving the 2012 draft budget and send it to parliament,” Mikati said.

Last Wednesday, nine ministers from the Free Patriotic Movement boycotted the Cabinet session in what they describe as a protest to the government’s poor performance. The boycott, however, was seen as a response to Mikati for threatening to resign if the Cabinet failed to fund the international court.

One of the FPM conditions for rejoining Cabinet sessions was that the draft budget, which it described as more important than the STL, be discussed.

“I expect everyone to judge based on actions and assess the step of financing from a national interest point of view ... and not allow the issue [of STL] to be open for dispute,” Mikati said.

The prime minister also said that his decision to fund the tribunal gives way for other national issues to take priority especially in the social and economic fields.

On the prime minister’s Twitter feed Wednesday night, Mikati said: “Today's financing of @STLebanon reflects the ability of #Lebanon&the #Lebanese ppl to seek 'win-win' solutions. We ought to be fwd looking!”

Mikati, who recently began holding a question-and-answer session with his followers on the social networking website almost daily, also advised Lebanese not to “over obsesses” on the issue, but rather tackle other national priorities.

“Now that financing of @STLebanon has been secured, we shouldn't be 'over-obsessed' w/ it but rather tackle other [National] ... priorities simultaneously,” he added.

In response to comments criticizing the extreme views of lawmakers in both the March 14 and March 8 coalitions, Mikati said he was glad that centrism finally paid off.

“Glad that 'centrism' pays off! Can't severely bi-polarize the country & its people forever. Together we can achieve more!” Mikati said.

Mikati and President Michel Sleiman are seen as centrist politicians, along with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt who has sought to remain a centrist, assuring that he has good relations with both political camps.