Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday accused rival parties of "blocking the formation of a new government and preparing, as usual, to block the presidential election."

Seven Israelis including six soldiers were wounded on Sunday in a shooting attack on an Israeli bus in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said.

The army said one of the soldiers was severely wounded while the others and the civilian were lightly hurt.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday warned that “a deliberate presidential vacuum” would be “a conspiracy against what the presidency position represents in the republic.”

It would also be “treason against Lebanon,” the patriarch added in his Sunday Mass sermon.

The 13 MPs of the so-called change bloc on Saturday launched their long-awaited presidential initiative, which calls for the election of a reformist president who is not part of the polarization between the traditional political forces in the country.

Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has announced from Tehran that Hezbollah “has contributed to changing the equations of the region.”

“The course shifted from consolidating the usurper entity (Israel) to the course of liberating Palestine, and from deep-rooting subordination to the West to people’s independence, and from surrender to resistance and dignity,” Qassem said at the Seventh Session of the General Assembly of AhlulBayt in the Iranian capital.

The Lebanese pound hit a new low against the U.S. dollar on the black market Friday, as it crashed below 35,000, reaching 35,500.

For decades, the Lebanese pound was pegged to the dollar at 1,500.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has announced the appointment of Imran Riza of Pakistan as his Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident Coordinator for Lebanon. Riza will also serve as Humanitarian Coordinator, the UN said in a statement.

"Mr. Riza succeeds Najat Rochdi of Morocco, who recently completed her assignment and to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her accomplishments and wishes her continued success in her new appointment as Deputy Special Envoy for Syria," the statement said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday lashed out at President Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement over several issues, in a speech marking the 44th anniversary of the disappearance of Amal Movement founder Imam Moussa Sadr.

“We remind those trying to take Lebanon back to the pre-Taef era that parliament is the only side entrusted with interpreting the constitution,” Berri said, referring to the controversy over whether or not the caretaker cabinet can assume the president’s powers in the event of a presidential vacuum.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati met Wednesday in Baabda with President Michel Aoun over the issue of the new government.

Speaking to reporters as he entered the meeting, Mikati quipped that the government’s formation decrees cannot be issued today seeing as Speaker Nabih Berri “is in the South” to deliver a speech marking the 44th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr.

The Joint Parliamentary Committees on Tuesday agreed on finding a capital control solution that would both preserve the rights of depositors and the “existence” of banks, Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said.

TV networks meanwhile said that the Committees will ask the government to send the economic recovery plan in order to discuss it along with the capital control law.