Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday launched his fiercest attack to date on Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, calling for replacing him with a “transparent and honest judge.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday charged that Hizbullah’s efforts are focused on “deviating attention from the real cause of the crisis” in the country.

Speaking at a meeting with a student delegation, Geagea blamed the country’s compounded crisis on the rule of Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement over the past 10 years.

Member of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, Hizbullah MP Hassan Ezzeddine, has said that “there is a complete story about the ammonium nitrate ship that entered the port of Beirut.”

“The story could be published at any moment in the media so that all people will get to know what happened,” Ezzeddine said.

The Civilian Court of Cassation on Monday dismissed a petition filed by ex-minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zoaiter for the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast.

The Court argued that it is not the right authority to look into the request seeing as Bitar is not one of its judges and that his jurisdiction does not make him affiliated with the public prosecution.

Parliamant Speaker Nabih Berri has revealed that he has urged Prime Minister Najib Miqati to finalize talks with the International Monetary Fund and to tackle the power crisis.

“Miqati’s chance should not exceed a month and a half,” Berri said, in an interview, considering that “Parliament will be quasi-idle by the start of December, due to the holidays and to the nearness of the elections.”

Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide MP Aii Hassan Khalil on Sunday lamented what he called a “very high level of politicization” in Judge Tarek Bitar’s probe into the catastrophic Beirut port explosion.

MP Wael Abu Faour of the Democratic Gathering bloc on Sunday said “the election of six MPs representing Lebanese expats is a silly propaganda idea that was imposed by the Free Patriotic Movement.”

Lebanon’s national electricity grid has been restored following a total blackout and power supply will increase at the end of the month, Energy Minister Walid Fayyad announced on Sunday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday issued a stern warning against any "tampering" with the spring parliamentary elections.

Lebanon's two main power plants have been forced to shut down after running out of fuel, leaving the small country with no government-produced power.

Lebanon is grappling with a crippling energy crisis made worse by its dependency on fuel imports. Erratic power supplies have put hospitals and essential services in crisis mode. The Lebanese increasingly depend on private operators that also struggle to secure supplies amid an unprecedented crash of the national currency.