AMAL Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil on Thursday stressed Lebanon’s need for the "speedy" formation of a national unity government, urging political parties to make concessions “like we did” in order to reach that end.

Khalil, speaking during a celebration in South Lebanon, said the new Cabinet should include the majority of political parties, where “calm and responsible rhetoric must be conducted away from individual interests.”

UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in a statement the UN headquarters in New York has organized for “separate meetings” between the new UNIFIL head of mission Major General Stefano Del Col and permanent representatives of Lebanon and Israel to the UN, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and North Africa Mikhail Bogdanov received yesterday in Moscow the personal representative of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, Georges Shaaban, Hariri’s media office said Thursday.

The Lebanese Forces party said the formation of the Cabinet has been delayed because of “domestic obstacles,” noting that quests to include a clause in the ministerial statement calling for naturalization of ties with Syria was what prompted Hariri to raise the "red card," the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat daily reported on Thursday.

Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rahi on Wednesday voiced calls on Lebanese politicians to “center attention on public interest” in order to ease the obstacles hampering the government formation.

The Turkish Embassy in Beirut issued a statement on Wednesday expressing appreciation for support campaign launched by the Lebanese people, as Turkey faces new “economic attacks” from the United States.

As part of his farewell meetings as British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter attended the High Level Steering Committee, with US Ambassador Elizabeth Richard and the Lebanese Army’s Commander General Joseph Aoun at the new Land Border Training Center at Rayak, a press release said on Wednesday.

The passengers' chatter on the Beirut-bound flight was far from reassuring. Taxi drivers were striking. Traffic was going to be bad. Add the heat and suffocating humidity of a typical summer day and you're hit with a powerful urge to get out of town.

The mountains? Absolutely.

Lebanon has rejected the position of the head of the U.N. refugee agency, who said it was too early to talk about a mass return of Syrian refugees because the war-torn country is still too dangerous.

The Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that conditions in Syria now are stable in many cities and provinces.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah suggested Tuesday that his group could be “stronger than the Israeli army,” as he advised Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to reevaluate his stance on the Lebanese-Syrian ties.

“We will soon emerge victorious from this grand war on our region,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech marking the July 2006 war with Israel.