Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam has lamented that the cabinet crisis has been further deadlocked by the conditions set by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

In remarks to several local dailies published on Friday, officials close to Salam said: “There was no particular political activity yesterday.”

President Michel Suleiman dismissed on Thursday Israeli threats to target residential buildings in Lebanon and civilians as a clear violation to U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

“The Israeli threats clearly violate resolution 1701 on both political and international levels, in addition to the human rights principles,” Suleiman said in a statement.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam on Wednesday met with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace to discuss "the latest developments in the cabinet formation process," state-run National News Agency reported.

As he entered the meeting, Salam told reporters that he would not make a statement after the talks.

President Michel Suleiman expressed his satisfaction with the general proceedings linked to the efforts to form a new government, reported the Saudi al-Sharq newspaper on Wednesday.

He told the daily: “Starting Wednesday or Thursday we must start with placing the mechanism for the formation.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi warned on Wednesday from presidential vacuum, considering that this hypothesis means “death.”

“The problem is that everyone wants to divide the country according to his perspective instead of becoming as one,” al-Rahi said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea urged on Tuesday the president and the prime minister-designate not to waste any time and use their authorities to form a neutral cabinet.

In remarks to the Central News Agency, Geagea said President Michel Suleiman and Premier-designate Tammam Salam should “not waste any additional time and use their constitutional authorities to form a neutral government (that excludes) the March 8 and 14 alliances.”

President Michel Suleiman defended on Monday the army against critics who accuse it of making illegal arrests of suspects, saying the investigation with them was being carried out in a high level of transparency.

Suleiman was briefed by Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji on the situation in Lebanon in general and mainly the northern city of Tripoli, a Baabda Palace statement said.

Bkirki has adopted a strong rhetoric recently to demand a proper Christian representation in the upcoming cabinet, calling for a fair and balanced division of portfolios.

“No one can be excluded from the cabinet and experience proved that eliminating others will increase the crisis and not resolve it,” Maronite Bishop Boulus Sayyah said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper on Monday.

President Michel Suleiman reiterated on Monday that he would form a non partisan government if the March 8 alliance failed to inform him in the coming three days about the result of its negotiations on an all-embracing cabinet.

“I had previously set January 7 and informed all the officials that I would sign the decree of the government in hopes that it would be based on the 8-8-8 formula,” Suleiman said.

President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam will take the necessary position if a new government is not formed in the next few days, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah on Sunday.

Deputy Prime Minister Samir Moqbel told the daily that the two officials will likely approve the formation of an all-embracing government.