Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday hoped a meeting scheduled for Monday between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Saad Hariri will lead to a “positive result.”

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri will only form a technocrat government, because a political government would push all politicians to get heavily involved in it, a top al-Mustaqbal Movement official has said.

Amid calls urging the President to resign in light of an economic crisis, the Free Patriotic Movement on Saturday snapped back saying the term of the President in office “shall not be touched,” and also emphasized that the Movement adheres to the right to grant or withhold confidence to the future government.

Lebanon’s head of the coronavirus vaccination committee in Lebanon, Doctor Abdul Rahman Bizri, said Saturday that several institutions in Lebanon have reserved their share of COVID-19 vaccine that will take place under the supervision of the health ministry.

The latest rhetoric of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the controversial government formation points out to more complexities that could further delay the lineup, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly will immediately call for a meeting of international funders to save Lebanon once a government is formed, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Saturday.

Marking the 43rd anniversary of UNIFIL’s establishment, Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col reiterated that UNIFIL remains “as committed as ever to peace and stability in south Lebanon.”

The Syndicate of Money Changers in Lebanon on Friday welcomed measures announced by the Presidency and the central bank to rein in the dramatic fluctuations in the dollar exchange rate on the black market.

In a statement, the Syndicate said the move to return the currency exchange operations to “legitimate money changers” and to act against “the ghosts of the black market” will contribute to “stabilizing the dollar exchange rate after the confusion that affected all commercial sectors and aggrieved citizens.”

A clash Friday in the Baalbek town of Brital left two fugitives dead and a soldier wounded, the army said.

The Central Bank of Lebanon announced on Friday that it will allow local banks to conduct currency transactions similar to money exchange shops and will step in to control the uncontrollable exchange rate of the dollar, the presidency announced.