BEIRUT: As tensions soar in Lebanon after the government sent a request to the UN Security Council to consider "alternative ways and means" of establishing a special tribunal for the Hariri assassination, calls increased from local, regional and international quarters on Thursday for a return to inter-Lebanese dialogue.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters that the question of how to proceed with the tribunal had not yet been discussed by the UN Security Council.

Ban said he hoped that the Lebanese "would take the necessary measures, constitutionally, among themselves, through dialogue by promoting a national reconciliation."

However, he also said he understood the sense of frustration felt by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Security Council members over the tribunal.

Sources close to Speaker Nabih Berri told the Central News Agency on Thursday that Berri is concerned by the escalation in the political and security deadlock in Lebanon after the collapse of the latest attempt at dialogue between rival camps. Berri was said to have expressed his worry of a return to sectarian conflict, and noted that dialogue had succeeded in averting this "bitter pill" in past months.

He was quoted as saying that Lebanon was not "an island isolated from its surroundings," and urging all parties to find a solution to their differences "so that what is happening in Iraq, Morocco and Algeria does not spill over into Lebanon."

Responding to a speech made Sunday by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, MP Walid Jumblatt, a senior member of the ruling coalition, said that although the issue of the tribunal was among the first agreed during the national dialogue held last year, Nasrallah later "received instructions" to oppose the court.

In the latest diplomatic efforts, Egyptian Ambassador Hussein Darar said that an Arab initiative to resolve the crisis was "still on the table," but that Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa would not return to Lebanon until the Lebanese themselves made progress.

"We need to remember that all sides in Lebanon hailed the Arab initiative and called for an Arab solution. The Arab solution came, so what happened? Everyone needs to remember what they said and what they asked for and what they promised," Darar told reporters after a meeting with the Maronite bishop of Beirut, Boulos Matar.

"The secretary general will not return for the sake of returning; this is not what is required. What is needed is much more than that, for matters to move forward and for all [sides] to assume the responsibilities on their shoulders," he added.

Russian Ambassador Sergey Bukin told reporters after a meeting with Berri that recent comments by Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament, reflected the Russian position on the crisis.

"In my view, this statement reflects Russia's concern over the current situation in Lebanon and the severe political crisis Lebanon is going through," Bukin said, "and as a matter of fact it reflects the well known official Russian position, in that Russia supports continuing the inter-Lebanese national dialogue to reach a political settlement to contentious issues."

Margelov warned on Wednesday that the "forceful, shortsighted approach" of the opposition would lead to the creation of the tribunal under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.

Bukin said that Russia was taking part in discussions with other Security Council members over the wording of a presidential statement from the council on the implementation of Resolution 1701, and expressed confidence that consensus would be reached on the draft. The proposed statement views with concern "reports on movements of unlicensed armed militants outside UNIFIL's area of operation" and reiterates a call to "dissolve and disarm all militias and armed groups in Lebanon." It also expresses the council's "deep worry over increasing reports of the unlawful transfer of arms across the Lebanese-Syrian border which constitutes a violation of [Resolution] 1701."

The statement "welcomes the determination of the Lebanese government and the steps it is taking to stop this movement in keeping with the relevant resolutions," and calls on Syria "to take additional steps to reinforce the monitoring of its border."

The statement, drafted by France, further notes with deep concern the continued detention of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah last July, encourages a rapid solution to the issue of Lebanese detainees in Israel and expresses concern over ongoing Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace. It also suggests that a permanent solution to the disputed Shebaa Farms lies in a delineation of the border between Syria and Lebanon.

Outgoing French President Jacques Chirac once more urged the international community to assume its responsibilities and establish the tribunal on Wednesday, after meeting with Jordan's king Abdullah in Paris.

A spokesperson for Chirac said France was eager to establish the court "within a realistic time frame" and that the aim of the tribunal was to "achieve justice and to be a deterrence to those who would resort to assassinations as a means to achieve political goals."

The spokesperson added that France hopes to see a "lasting peace in a democratic Lebanon that enjoys complete sovereignty."