Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is scheduled to visit Beirut next week to brief Lebanese officials on the nuclear deal signed between major powers and Tehran.

Zarif will make the visit on August 12. He is expected to meet with top officials and political figures who are allied with Iran.

Syrian government forces backed by Hizbullah have advanced from different directions in the mountain resort of Zabadani near the border with Lebanon, Syrian state media reported.

Syrian opposition groups have accused the government and Hizbullah of displacing thousands of Sunnis from areas along the border with Lebanon and preventing them from returning to their homes.

Diplomats have said that Paris was able to clinch the Lebanese authorities' approval to appoint Emmanuel Bonne as ambassador to Beirut despite the failure of several missions to receive a positive feedback from the Lebanese authorities.

The diplomats, who were not identified, told An Nahar daily published on Tuesday that “only France has so far been able to receive an official approval (from Beirut) to appoint Bonne.”

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour highlighted on Monday the threats posed by the ongoing waste disposal problem in Lebanon, saying that the temporary dumps for Beirut's garbage are nearing their capacity.

He urged during a press conference the government to “take the fastest solution to resolve the problem because time is not on our side.”

Officials resumed on Monday discussing the country's waste crisis as Prime Minister Tammam Salam said that the export of garbage is among the proposals under discussion.

“The suggestion to export waste is among several other proposals” that are being discussed by the involved officials, Salam told As Safir daily.

The ministerial committee tasked with finding a solution for the over two-week waste management crisis in Beirut and Mount Lebanon has failed so far to find an alternative for the Naameh landfill that reached its maximum capacity and was closed on July 17, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Saturday.

The crisis is aggravating and the Lebanese regions refuse to receive wastes from outside their areas. In the absence of solutions, citizens and some municipalities are either burning or throwing the trash in forests threatening an explosion of a major environmental crisis, the daily added.

Speaker Nabih Berri has reiterated that the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam is a red line, urging Lebanon's rival officials not to wait for the Iran nuclear deal to resolve the country's crises.

“Bringing down the cabinet means abolishing the country. This cannot take place,” Berri told his visitors, according to al-Joumhouria daily published on Friday.

Beirut Municipality on Thursday called on the council of ministers to allow it to “hire specialized firms to send garbage abroad as a solution to the problem of disposing of the waste of the city of Beirut.”

The municipality reached its decision during an extraordinary meeting dedicated to the garbage crisis.

The government failed on Thursday to agree on measures to manage the country's waste crisis, which Prime Minister Tammam Salam blamed on the political conflict as he issued a veiled warning that he could resort to resignation if the deadlock on several issues continued.

Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said following the session that was chaired by Salam at the Grand Serail that the PM described the country's environmental situation as a “disaster.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has stressed that he will not resign despite growing political and environmental crises that are threatening to spiral out of control.

According to the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily published on Thursday, Salam told religious officials and diplomats that the country's political situation is grave but that he would not announce his resignation.