Lebanon recorded 5,087 new Covid-19 cases and 19 deaths over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The country has witnessed a major surge in cases in recent weeks, amid the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus and the gatherings that accompanied the holidays period.

MP Wael Abu Faour of the Progressive Socialist Party announced Tuesday that “Hizbullah’s stances and regional policies have become an unbearable burden for Lebanon,” hours after Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah launched a blistering attack on Saudi Arabia and its monarch.

“Insulting Saudi Arabia, its leadership and Lebanon’s Arab ties is no longer an occasional stance… It is clear that it has become a premeditated policy aimed at destroying these ties and plunging Lebanon into the Iranian trap,” Abu Faour said.

Ex-PM Saad Hariri on Tuesday hit out at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah over his latest anti-Saudi remarks, saying that “history will not be merciful on a party that is selling its Arab identity, its country’s stability and its people’s interests in return for some participation in the region’s wars.”

“Your insistence on antagonizing Saudi Arabia and its leadership is a continuous act of jeopardizing Lebanon, its role and the interests of its sons,” Hariri said in a series of tweets.

Health Minister Firass Abiad announced Tuesday that “the situation is still under control until the moment” as to hospitals’ capacity to deal with the current wave of Covid-19 cases.

“The numbers of patients in hospitals and in their ICU units have not increased in a significant manner, but we are required to be prepared and ready should these numbers surge,” Abiad said after talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail.

Two Hizbullah lawmakers on Tuesday lashed out at Prime Minister Najib Miqati over his criticism of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s latest anti-Saudi remarks.

“We were expecting Mr. Prime Minister Najib Miqati to put national belonging first and rebel for the dignity of his country in the face of the repeated insults by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against the Lebanese people, the last of which were the statements of its king against a broad segment of the Lebanese, whom he accused of terrorism,” MP Hassan Fadlallah said.

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday stressed his adherence to “Lebanon’s official stance” as to “keenness on Lebanon’s Arab and international ties, especially with the Arab Gulf nations, topped by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

“This keenness must be mutual, because it is in the interest of both Lebanon and the Gulf countries,” Aoun added.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced Monday that his party is ready to “improve” its 2006 memorandum of understanding with the Free Patriotic Movement, its main Christian ally, a day after FPM chief Jebran Bassil criticized Hizbullah over its alignment with Speaker Nabih Berri in several key issues.

“We stress the importance of dialogue among the Lebanese and the importance of any invitation for dialogue among the Lebanese,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech commemorating slain Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, in response to President Michel Aoun’s latest call for national dialogue.

The Lebanese pound sank to a new low on the black market on Monday, with no end in sight to the economic and political crisis gripping the country.

According to apps monitoring the black market rate, the pound was trading at 29,000 to the dollar on Monday afternoon, a record low.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has announced that he would attend national dialogue if invited by President Michel Aoun, as he warned against the postponement of parliamentary elections.

“I cannot boycott a dialogue I’m invited to, but what’s important is the result of any dialogue,” Berri said in an interview with the Lubnan al-Kabir news portal.

The Free Patriotic Movement's Central Committee for Information and Communication denied Monday any talks between FPM chief Jebran Bassil and Hizbullah coordination official Wafiq Safa over the cancellation of the parliamentary elections.

The committee said in a statement that the FPM is against extending Parliament’s term.