Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani will arrive in Lebanon at 5pm Tuesday on a one-day official visit, the Qatari embassy said on Monday.

The minister will hold separate meetings with President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, the embassy added in a statement.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday said decisive meetings will be held this week regarding the issue of the new government, as he criticized the course of the probe into the catastrophic 2020 explosion at the port of Beirut.

“These days are supposed to be decisive regarding the cabinet formation issue and the meetings that will be held today, tomorrow and Wednesday can make things clearer,” Nasrallah said in a televised address.

Member of the Syndicate of Station Owners, George al-Braks, confirmed on Monday that "the indications point to an agreement to unload the cargo of (gasoline) ships parked at the Lebanese shores today.”

He assured that gasoline will be distributed, which will lead to an “increase in the number of stations that will operate normally, and a decrease in the queues that we have been seeing in the streets lately."

By Martin Longden, Head of Mission of the British Embassy Beirut

There have been better times to be head of the British Embassy in Lebanon. The crises buffeting this wonderful and troubled country – from the port explosion, to the Covid pandemic, to the economic collapse – have dulled Lebanon’s shine, impoverishing the people and putting both state institutions and the private sector under intolerable pressure. With no prospect in sight of a government capable of gripping the situation, Lebanon’s situation looks increasingly precarious.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday warned that spending from the central bank's obligatory reserve of foreign currencies "has started."

“The President, the caretaker prime minister, the finance minister and the central bank governor bear the responsibility for eradicating what is left of depositors’ money,” Geagea said in a tweet.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement deputy chief Mustafa Alloush has suggested that “the country will collapse and disintegrate before the government’s formation” should the current political course continue as it is.

In a TV interview, Alloush also noted that the presence of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri outside Lebanon is “a lot more important than his presence in the country.”

The issue of PM-designate Saad Hariri’s resignation is not pressing anymore and Hariri will return to Beirut within 48 hours, sources close to him have said.

“Things are still in the hands of President Michel Aoun regarding the possibility of forming a mission-driven government without a blocking one-third and the ball is in his court,” the sources added, in remarks to OTV.

The Free Patriotic Movement called Saturday for unveiling who “brought and used” the ammonium nitrate shipment that caused the August 2020 disaster in Beirut, a day after the judge leading the probe said he will pursue senior politicians and former and current security chiefs in the case.

“The Movement stresses the right of the Lebanese to know the full truth about the Beirut port explosion,” the FPM said in a statement issued after a periodic e-meeting for its political bureau.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea has called for “accountability and closure” regarding the catastrophic 2020 explosion at the port of Beirut.

“As we approach the sad anniversary of the port blast, we join you in calling for accountability and closure, first and foremost for the victims, but more broadly for everyone who wants to turn the page on the old way of doing business,” Shea said.

Former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil and ex-public works minister Ghazi Zoaiter have issued a joint statement saying they are ready to be questioned by lead investigative judge Tarek al-Bitar in the Beirut port blast probe.

Noting that they heard about the judge’s request to question them through the media, Khalil and Zoaiter said that they are both ready to appear before Bitar even before a permission is issued by parliament to have their immunity lifted.