U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard welcomed on Monday the formation of a new government in Lebanon.

“I want to personally congratulate Prime Minister Hariri and commend him on forming a government,” Ambassador Richard said.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed on Monday the formation of the new cabinet and congratulated Prime Minister Saad Hariri on the swift process and national accord in Lebanon.

The Secretary-General welcomes today’s announcement of the formation of a new government of national accord in Lebanon. He congratulates Prime Minister Saad Hariri on the swift process and encourages Lebanon’s political leaders to build on the momentum of national unity, a statement said.

The first cabinet under the tenure of President Michel Aoun was formed on Sunday, 45 days after the designation of PM Saad Hariri for the task with the aim of approving a new election law to hold the upcoming parliamentary election slated in May 2017 on time.

The new government did not take a lot of time to be shaped, although the formation process witnessed some delay, compared to other governments which took from 6 to 11 months to form, media reports said.

Foreign Minister and Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil stated that the FPM makes sacrifices for the greater interest of Lebanon alone, as he assured that the delayed cabinet will eventually be formed, the National News Agency said Saturday.

“I assure you today that the government will be formed. You must put any delay in a simple equation which states that we are people who know well when to make sacrifices in favor of others in order to make Lebanon benefit,” said Bassil at the annual dinner held by the FPM-Byblos branch a day earlier.

Al-Mustaqbal MP Jean Oghassapian said on Saturday it is impossible to reach a complete proportional representation election law in light of the spread of Hizbullah's arms.

“Everyone knows that proportional representation will not be passed in the parliament, and it is impossible to reach this representation under the logic of arms spread in specific areas,” said Oghassapian in an interview to Free Lebanon radio.

The Lebanese Forces party said forming a new cabinet is facing complexities because shifting to form a cabinet of 30 ministers instead of 24 requires anew consultations, and stressed that they will not concede any ministerial portfolio in the new line-up agreement, al-Akhbar daily reported on Saturday.

“The formation of the cabinet is getting complicated,” Maarab sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.

Speaker Nabih Berri said he knows the “secret” behind the delay in the cabinet formation but prefers not to be “provoked” into disclosing it to the public, al-Joumhouria daily reported Saturday.

“I know where the problem is, and I know the secret behind the obstructions. Don't provoke us to make us announce it frankly and publicly,” sources close to Berri quoted him as saying.

The Israeli army fired four flare bombs at dawn on Friday from Ramtha over the heights of Jabal al- Saddaneh, north of the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line, the National News Agency reported.

The flare bombs were fired simultaneously with the overflight of a reconnaissance drone over the border area of Arqoub in south Lebanon, NNA added.

Lining up a new cabinet could be delayed until next week because President Michel Aoun suggested to grant specific titles to the ministers who will be given a state portfolio, which Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said presses the need for reconsidering the distribution of ministerial portfolios, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported.

Aoun did not in principle object to lining up a cabinet of 30 minsters, said the daily. He only suggested giving specific titles for the candidates who will be given a state portfolio to give their post some significance. A State Minister would for example become Minister of State for Presidential Affairs or Minister of State for Foreign and Financial affairs, etc.

March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid criticized on Friday a Hizbullah statement, which aforesaid that proportional representation in the upcoming elections is an “obligatory path for the state rise”, and said that the country is being shaped according to the terms of Hizbullah.

“The country is taking shape under Hizbullah's conditions. The party got what it wanted at the presidential level, and it will get what it wants at the governmental level and electoral levels. We might as well hand the whole country to Hizbullah,” Soaid told al-Joumhouria daily.