Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday held talks with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati in Verdun, in the presence of acting public works and transport minister Ghazi Aridi.

Jumblat declined to make a statement after the meeting. However, MTV reported that talks between the two men did not tackle the distribution of portfolios in the new cabinet.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Thursday after meeting Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati that "the phase of making an agreement over the distribution of portfolios in the new government has not been reached."

He instead said that the discussions over the formation of the Cabinet are still underway.

More than 100 demonstrators briefly clashed with police outside the Egyptian embassy in Beirut on Thursday after they tried to break through the security cordon around the diplomatic mission, a security official said.

"Police intervened to push back the demonstrators after they tried to break through the barbed wire in order to enter the embassy," the official told Agence France Presse, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israeli troops began constructing a barbed wire fence around the southern village of Ghajar on Thursday.

A high-ranking United Nations Interim Force officer inspected the site, while a source from the international force told the Central News Agency that the issue of Ghajar is very difficult and complicated, adding that it needs time to be resolved.

Caretaker Labor Minister Butros Harb stated on Thursday that Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati is attempting to allow the participation of all political powers in the new government, including the March 14 forces.

He told the Central News Agency that the March 14 camp may take part in Cabinet if Miqati respects the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and Hizbullah’s arms possession, and if he ensures that the March 14 forces would be able to play an effective role in preventing decisions that would harm Lebanon.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel stressed on Thursday that Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati’s allies should facilitate his mission of forming a new government.

He said after holding talks with British Ambassador to Lebanon Francis Mary Guy that the March 14 camp has done all it could, met Miqati, and informed him of its readiness to maintain Lebanon’s interest.

Lebanon's economy should be able to survive the political turmoil that has seen the appointment of a Hizbullah-backed premier due to the strength of the country's banking system and replete foreign currency reserves, analysts say.

"The financial defense lines are currently the strongest in Lebanon's history," said Marwan Barakat, chief economist at Bank Audi, one of the leading banks in the country.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has denied that he nominated Najib Miqati as premier to take revenge on Saad Hariri for shunning him from the presidency.

In an interview with the Qatari al-Watan newspaper published Thursday, Aoun said he named Miqati because he had a problem with Hariri’s internal policies.

Egyptians in Lebanon are anxiously watching developments in their strife-torn homeland, fearing that their country is sliding into an unending cycle of chaos and political turmoil.

"All I can think, watching the protests, is that we are going to be the next Lebanon or even the next Iraq," said Shahta al-Masri, a Beirut gas station attendant who hails from Al-Mahalla Al-Kubra in the Nile Delta.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati visited President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday to inform him about the demands of the March 8 and 14 forces on the cabinet, An Nahar daily said.

The newspaper quoted sources as saying that both officials agreed to give contacts more time to exhaust all efforts to form a national unity cabinet or a national salvation government that includes both coalitions.