A UN-backed court probing the 2005 murder of Lebanon's ex-premier Rafiq Hariri submitted on Thursday a sealed indictment and arrest warrants to the country's Prosecutor General  Saeed Mirza, the opposition told AFP.

Television reports said 4 suspects are named in the long-awaited indictment, the contents of which were not made public.

The reports said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), based in The Hague, had issued arrest warrants for the suspects.

The STL's office could not be immediately reached for comment.

According to experts, Lebanon now has 30 days to serve out the arrest warrants. If the suspects are not arrested within that period, the STL will then make public the indictment and summon the suspects to appear before the court.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was set up in The Hague in 2009 by the United Nations to try those alleged to have carried out the bomb attack that killed Hariri and 22 others.

Hariri was killed with 22 others on February 14, 2005 when a massive blast struck his motorcade in a seafront district of Beirut.

Hariri, who was 60 when he was killed, headed 5 Lebanese governments between the years 1992 to 1998 and 2000 to 2004.

Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s newly appointed Prime Minister, reassured the public, following talks he had held, that “there would be no strife in Lebanon as a result of issuance of the indictments.”

“We don’t want to create a state of panic and tension in the country as a result of an international decision that is not up to us,” Mikati said.

“The situation is good, God willing, and things will take their normal course,” he added.