Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati’s mission to form a new government is still ongoing 12 days after the start of the consultations, with informed sources telling the Syrian al-Watan newspaper that the Cabinet is most likely to be formed between February 16 and 18, at the latest.

The pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Sunday that the efforts are likely to last a long time seeing as the sides that nominated Miqati have been raising the roof of their demands and conditions.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Saturday accused the March 8 coalition of seeking to form of a "Hizbullah-Syria" government in Lebanon.

"A one-sided Cabinet means a Syrian-Hizbullah government in Lebanon," Geagea told the Voice of Free Lebanon radio station.

The Lebanese army cordoned off a house in the southern town of Tayr Felsay after a suspicious blast at its garage on Saturday, the National News Agency said.

In cooperation with UNIFIL, the army found two power generators and a motorbike at the garage of the house owned by Rida Shalhoub, NNA said.

President Michel Suleiman hoped on Saturday that Lebanese officials would cooperate with Premier-designate Najib Miqati to form a cabinet that would face administrative, economic and security challenges.

The government should be formed “based on the democratic principles that distinguish Lebanon,” Suleiman said.

Two Lebanese were among seven people killed in the crash of a small private jet in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah on Friday, the National News Agency reported.

Among the dead were three members of the flight crew, including the two Lebanese – Stephanie Louqa from the coastal town of Batroun and Abdullah Lahoud, NNA said Saturday.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati on Saturday continued to face obstacles to his cabinet formation process over the Christian representation, a scenario that Lebanese governments have witnessed since 2005.

Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat quoted sources following up contacts to form the government as saying that Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is rejecting to give shares to President Michel Suleiman and wants a homogenous 30-member cabinet that only includes the March 8 forces.

Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan criticized the alleged categorization of sects as first degree or second degree confessions, calling for unity among the Lebanese to confront challenges.

“With all respect to all confessions, there is nothing called monopoly of ministries by any sect,” Arslan told As Safir daily in remarks published Saturday.

The movement of U.S. warships in the Mediterranean sea has been disrupting Lebanon’s internet services in the past three weeks, An Nahar daily reported Saturday.

The newspaper said that the problems which began when former Premier Saad Hariri’s government collapsed are not the result of operations conducted by UNIFIL’s naval force.

Diplomats at the United Nations said they have “taken notice” of Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s vows to remain committed to international resolutions, including the resolution that established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The diplomats, who refused to be identified, told An Nahar daily that “until now” Lebanese institutions “are working correctly.”

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati sent a message to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, Miqati’s advisor Joe Issa al-Khoury told reporters in Bkirki on Friday.

Following talks with Sfeir, al-Khoury refused to unveil details of the message that he delivered to the patriarch.