Ex-president Michel Aoun has described remarks voiced by caretaker PM Najib Mikati in parliament as “curtailed and lacking a lot of accuracy and correctness.”

“When he visited me to bid farewell six days before the term’s end, I told him that I was waiting for him to return to Baabda so that we issue the formation decree together, according to norms, but he went and did not come back,” Aoun said in a statement.

The futile debate between caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Free Patriotic chief Jebran Bassil over who of the two obstructed the government formation, who should have named the ministers and why wouldn't the FPM MPs give their confidence to Mikati's government, led Thursday to another dispute in parliament as the MPs discussed the legitimacy of the caretaker government.

As parliament convened to discuss a letter by former President Michel Aoun over the legitimacy of the caretaker government, Mikati said that he would have stepped down only if Bassil hadn't called for it.

The Constitutional Council on Thursday rejected four more appeals against some results of the May 15 parliamentary elections.

At a press conference, Council chief Judge Tannous Meshleb announced that the four appeals that were dismissed are the following:

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has called for a special conference under the auspices of the United Nations to resolve the disagreement between the Lebanese parties.

"As long as the officials are not ready to sit together to resolve their disagreements, I have called for a special conference," al-Rahi told LBCI.

Security forces arrested at dawn Thursday the three depositors Ibrahim Baydoun, Ali al-Saheli and Catherine al-Ali as well as prominent lawyer and activist Rami Ollaik for their storming Wednesday of Credit Libanais bank in Hazmieh, the National News Agency said.

Security forces also safely evacuated the bank employees who had been held as hostages.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Thursday reminded that caretaker PM Najib Mikati had said that there was “no need to form a government,” describing it as a “dangerous constitutional precedent.”

“He set the condition of obtaining (our) confidence in order to form the government, although his designation did not win (our) confidence, which means that he had decided not to form a government,” Bassil said after a parliamentary session dedicated to discussing ex-President Michel Aoun’s letter on the legitimacy of the caretaker cabinet.

Parliament recommended Thursday that cabinet continue its work in caretaker capacity after it discussed a letter by ex-President Michel Aoun concerning the resignation of the caretaker cabinet.

The caretaker cabinet can only convene in extraordinary cases, parliament said.

Parliament convened Thursday to discuss a letter by ex-President Michel Aoun concerning the resignation of the caretaker cabinet.

The session will not be broadcast to the public, and media reports expected it to be fiery.

The closing statement of the 31st Arab Summit that was held in Algeria on Wednesday said the Arab countries “reiterate their solidarity with Lebanon.”

The Arab League voices support for Lebanon “to preserve its security and backs its steps to extend its sovereignty over its territory on land and at sea,” the statement added.

The International Support Group for Lebanon on Wednesday noted with concern the “continued lack of cooperation among Lebanese political actors that has precipitated a presidential vacuum, at a time when Lebanon most requires quick and decisive action to address its dire economic, financial and humanitarian crises.”

“More than ever, Lebanon needs fully functioning state institutions that can pursue comprehensive reforms with a strategic vision that generates substantive change for the public good,” the ISG said in a statement.