Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly urged the rival political parties “to come to their senses” and to work on the activation of the parliament and the government.

Berri's visitors quoted him as saying that he “hoped everyone would come to their senses and feel the dangers of the current situation.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun has considered himself a consensual candidate stressing that he would not accept a "puppet" to rule the country.

Aoun told al-Joumhouria daily in an interview published on Friday that he told his supporters to mobilize for street protests.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stressed on Monday that it was unacceptable for the presidential vacuum to last more than a year, hoping for a divine “interference” in the country's blood-stained history.

“We continue to pray for the election of a president, for stability and for a comprehensive reconciliation,” al-Rahi said at the opening of the synod of Maronite Bishops in Bkirki.

Speaker Nabih Berri has warned that the country can no longer bear the consequences of paralysis, saying the verbal feud between the rival parties would not have an impact on their dialogue.

“The situation can no longer tolerate a government or parliamentary paralysis and contacts and efforts are being made to guarantee a cabinet session and an extraordinary legislative session to adopt urgent draft-laws,” Berri told several local dailies published on Monday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said that the dialogue between his party and the Free Patriotic Movement should have started a long time ago.

“But it's better late than never,” Geagea said in an interview to be published on Thursday, according to his press office.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has advised Christian parties not to waste historic opportunities and to agree on a consensual candidate other than Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are in a dispute over the situation in Yemen, so there won't be any mediator to help Lebanese MPs elect a new president, Jumblat said in remarks published on Tuesday.

The government tasked the Lebanese army on Thursday with taking necessary measures to deploy inside the northeastern border town of Arsal to protect it against militant attacks, Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said.

“After long discussions on the catastrophic situation in Arsal and the presence of militants on its outskirts, the cabinet expressed full confidence in the army,” Jreij said in his briefing to reporters following a government session that was chaired by Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam met Wednesday with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz at his Royal palace in Jeddah.

Saudi King Salman held a meeting behind doors with Salam, who was accompanied by a ministerial delegation.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that Baabda Palace has been vacant for the past 14 months, blaming all political parties for the failure to elect a new president.

Several local dailies on Monday quoted Berri as telling his visitors that Lebanon has been suffering from a presidential vacuum since March 24, 2014, the day the 60-day constitutional deadline began for the election of a head of state.

The U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs has reiterated Washington's support for Lebanon to meet the challenges it is facing and said the presidential elections would not solve all of the country's issues.

Lawrence Silverman said on Thursday at a conference organized by the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce in New York that the U.S. stands by Lebanon to confront the challenges it is facing as a result of conflicts in the region.