BEIRUT: Efforts to avert the collapse of the government resulted in progress towards finding a solution to funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, but talks are ongoing to finalize an agreement, a source close to the negotiations said Tuesday.

"There is progress towards a win-win solution after Speaker Nabih Berri’s contacts with various sides," a senior source with March 8 coalition told The Daily Star.

"I believe there is a way that secures funding for STL and will keep the government intact," the source added.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met with Prime Minister Najib Mikati Tuesday morning as part of the speaker’s attempts to resolve the disputed issue of paying Lebanon’s $36 million share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s annual budget.

Mikati has warned that he will resign if the Cabinet fails to fund the tribunal, which in late June accused four Hezbollah members of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former statesman Rafik Hariri.

Sources close to the March 8 coalition have said that there is a clear desire from all parties to keep intact Mikati’s government, in which Hezbollah and its allies hold majority.

Sources also did not rule out the possibility of postponing Wednesday's Cabinet session, which is scheduled to discuss the funding.

Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement, headed by MP Michel Aoun, have outright rejected the existence of the tribunal, questioning the credibility and constitutionality of the U.N.-backed court.

Sources also told The Daily Star that FPM Energy Minister Jibran Bassil met with President Michel Sleiman Tuesday afternoon in a bid to postpone Wednesday’s session to allow more time for consultations to resolve the issue.

Aoun, sources said, is prepared to vote in support of the STL only if Hezbollah, his closest ally, is willing to, with sources adding that the FPM leader announced he would not be a part of any action that would harm Hezbollah.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, who met Mikati earlier Tuesday over lunch, informed Aoun of Mikati’s willingness to negotiate over some of the demands of Aoun’s ministers.

However, Aoun has not been told of the content of the meeting which took place Tuesday morning between Mikati and Berri.

Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt, who had voiced his support for the funding, met with Berri Tuesday night.