The focus of political activity in late December and early January was the STL. The investigation has focused on the hypothesis that Syria and Hizbullah were implicated in the attack. The UN body is expected to issue indictments in early 2011, including against some senior Hizbullah figures. As this point draws closer, tensions have increased further.

Hizbullah has stepped up its actions against the STL since it emerged in mid-2010 that members of the group were likely to be indicted. In December it launched an array of political efforts. It sought to force the president, whose role is nominally above day-to-day politics, to rule against the STL. It also tried to force the issue onto the cabinet agenda with the implicit threat that it would bring down the government if the cabinet did not discuss the tribunal. It also tried to drag the weak judiciary into the investigation. In a televised speech on the eve of the Shia religious festival of Ashoura in mid-December, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah, told those Lebanese supporting the investigation to step aside, allowing his party to confront the STL directly.