Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday demanded the election of a president who would "not only demarcate the state's border with the countries surrounding Lebanon, but also with Lebanese forces acting as if there are no inviolability, borders nor dignity for the state, legitimacy and the army."

MP Mohammed Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, has warned that presidential vacuum would “weaken the national stance in the face of the external threats.”

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday threatened anew that there would be an “escalation” if Lebanon does not get what it wants in the sea border negotiations with Israel.

“If the Lebanese state is not given what it wants, we will be heading to an escalation, even if the nuclear agreement gets signed,” Nasrallah said in a televised address during a Hezbollah ceremony, referring to the possibility of a new nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.

The 13 MPs of the “change” bloc on Friday announced that they will launch a “comprehensive initiative” regarding the presidential election in early September.

“This initiative will include the political stances and the constitutional and values-related approach that would establish a political and popular incubator that would push for the election of a president who would contribute to launching a salvation course for the country,” they said in a statement.

Lebanon’s General Security agency has arrested Abdullah Yasser Sabawi, a grandson of Saddam Hussein’s half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, who is accused of involvement in the 2014 Camp Speicher massacre in Iraq.

“He is accused of carrying out criminal operations that resulted in the death of thousands of innocents, based on an Interpol warrant that has been enforced by the relevant Lebanese security agencies,” General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim told Iraq’s IMN TV.

Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad has said that Hezbollah is "the real sovereign party" in Lebanon, a word usually used by Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea to describe the parties that oppose Hezbollah.

Many times, Geagea had called for a "sovereign" Prime Minister and a "sovereign" President and dubbed the opposition MPs as "sovereign." A sovereign President, for him, would be a President who can confront Hezbollah and its allies.

Caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine accused Friday Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati of not wanting to repatriate the Syrian refugees.

"Mikati doesn't want to facilitate the repatriation of the refugees," Sharafeddine said, adding that he and Mikati are at odds because of many disagreements over economic issues, and not just because of the refugees case.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Thursday accused political rivals of giving up Christian rights and said they “lost their mind” when he visited Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to seek “consensus” over the next president.

“Without making a concession over representation, we have said that we might cede it to a person on whom we can agree to prevent (presidential) vacuum,” Bassil said in a video he posted on Twitter.

The Finance and Budget Committee, headed by MP Ibrahim Kanaan, convened Thursday to discuss the 2022 state budget law.

Kanaan asked the government to give realistic numbers for the so-called customs dollar that will determine the LBP to USD exchange rate to be used to calculate customs on imports.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati told ministers in Tuesday’s meeting that he is “keen” on the formation of a new government, caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Thursday.