Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Wednesday called on President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to hold what he called a “personal reconciliation meeting.”

“I urge them to hold a contemplative meeting, a personal reconciliation meeting, a meeting responsible for pulling the country out of collapse, through the formation of a salvation government liberated from political and partisan bickering and quotas,” al-Rahi said in a sermon during a mass marking the Christian feast of Epiphany.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Wednesday that “the Gulf reconciliation that happened at Al-UlA summit represents a gain for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and all Arab nations, especially Lebanon.”

In a statement, Geagea noted that “Lebanon used to resort to the Gulf states during its crises and they would always help it.”

The press office of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Tuesday snapped back at the Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc after the latter accused Hariri of “fabricating obstacles.”

“The Strong Lebanon bloc has returned to its favorite policy of holding others responsible for the obstacles that it deliberately fabricates,” the press office said in a statement.

The Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, calling on him to “shoulder his responsibilities.”

In a statement issued after its weekly e-meeting under the chairmanship of FPM chief Jebran Bassil, the bloc asked Hariri to “perform his national and constitutional duties and stop consuming time.”

Former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn said in an interview aired Monday that French investigators are coming to question him in Lebanon over some legal challenges in France, asking why don't the Japanese do the same thing.

Ghosn's comments came two weeks after a Lebanese justice ministry official said a team of French investigators will come to Beirut in January to participate in interrogating the former auto executives.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea again criticized Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday saying Lebanon is enduring collapse and humiliation because of Hizbullah’s Resistance.

MP Qassem Hashem of the Development and Liberation Parliamentary bloc on Tuesday said leaders should take an “exceptional” decision by reactivating the caretaker government of PM Hassan Diab, if they lack the ability to form a new rescue government.

Lebanon’s anti-coronavirus ministerial committee on Monday announced a general lockdown from Thursday, January 7 until February 1 with a 6pm-5am nighttime curfew.

Speaking after the committee’s meeting, caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan warned that the coronavirus situation has reached a very dangerous level in the country in terms of hospitals’ capacity.

Renowned Lebanese lyrical author, composer, orchestra arranger and conductor Elias Rahbani passed away on Monday at the age of 82, his family said.

Rahbani was hospitalized last week suffering low oxygen after he contracted the coronavirus and succumbed to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, on Monday.

Israeli warplanes conducted heavy overflights on Monday flying at low and medium-altitudes over several Lebanese regions, the National News Agency reported.