The parliamentary bloc of the Progressive Socialist Party, known as the Democratic Gathering, on Friday called for forming a new government as soon as possible and said it discussed “the characteristics that the PM-designate should enjoy.”

Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Stephen Hickey, has concluded a two-day visit to Lebanon. He met with senior Lebanese officials, local experts, international partners and visited projects funded by the UK supporting the most vulnerable people in Lebanon.

Head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc MP Mohammed Raad on Friday said that the Lebanese are awaiting the outcome of U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein’s visit to Lebanon with “great caution.”

“It is the right of the Lebanese to be able with the least cost, shortest time and easiest ways to exploit their natural gas resources and to extract them without obstacles or a conflict,” Raad said.

Saudi Arabia on Friday welcomed the verdicts that have been issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon against “two agents of the terrorist Hezbollah militia” over their role in “the terrorist attack that killed 22 people including ex-PM Rafik Hariri.”

“The international community must shoulder its responsibilities towards Lebanon and its brother people, who are suffering from the terrorist practices of the Iran-backed militia,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Norman Farrell has noted that the conviction of Salim Ayyash, Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi over their participation in the 2005 murder of ex-PM Rafik Hariri should not be “the final step towards accountability,” calling on Hezbollah to hand over its three members to authorities.

“Today we witnessed the completion of these proceedings against Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi et Hussein Hassan Oneissi, the three convicted persons for their heinous acts in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which caused incredible pain and suffering to the many victims and their families,” Farrell said in a statement, shortly after the STL Appeals Chamber sentenced Merhi and Oneissi to life imprisonment.

Head of Defense Office of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), Dorothée Le Fraper du Hellen, has thanked the Defense Counsel after appeal judges sentenced Hezbollah members Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi to life imprisonment for their roles in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

"Following the pronouncement of the Judgment, Le Fraper du Hellen wishes to thank Defense Counsel and their teams for the considerable amount of work that they have done since being assigned to ensure the effective representation of the interests and rights of Merhi and Oneissi," she said in a statement.

The life imprisonment verdicts issued Thursday by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon are the “clearest condemnation of Hizbullah” in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri said.

“After the conviction of Salim Ayyash in the crime of the assassination of martyr premier Rafik Hariri and his companions, the Appeals Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon unanimously sentenced two other Hezbollah members, Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi, to life imprisonment,” Hariri tweeted.

The Constitutional Council’s deadline for accepting appeals against the results of the parliamentary elections ended on Thursday, after 15 appeals were filed in total, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The appeals were filed between May 31 and June 16, NNA said.

The so-called Change MPs will meet President Michel Aoun separately during the binding parliamentary consultations next Thursday, al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

In remarks published Thursday, the daily said that the meetings are separate because the MPs haven't yet agreed on one name according to some sources, while other sources said that the Parliament's General Secretariat has sent the names separately without asking the MPs.

U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon Najat Rochdi has delivered a speech at a press conference held Thursday at the U.N. House (Beirut) on the Extension and Revision of the Emergency Response Plan (ERP).

Below are Rochdi’s remarks as delivered at the conference: