Lebanon was on Monday holding binding parliamentary consultations to designate a new premier who will make the third attempt within a year to form a government amid deepening political and economic turmoil.

President Michel Aoun was holding the consultations with the parliamentary blocs in order to find a replacement for Saad Hariri, who quit as PM-designate on July 15 after nine months of political horse-trading failed to produce a new cabinet.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi announced Sunday that he hopes that the binding parliamentary consultations to name a PM-designate will be held as scheduled on Monday.

The head of the Lebanese Forces party Samir Geagea announced after a meeting held by the Strong Republic bloc on Friday that the LF “will not nominate anyone” in the binding parliamentary consultations scheduled for Monday.

Geagea said that it is impossible to reach any reforms “as long as the duo Aoun-Hizbullah and their allies are holding power.”

The relatives of the Beirut port blast victims on Friday staged a sit-in outside the Justice Palace in Beirut under the slogan “The Blood of Out Martyrs is Above Your Immunities”, in which they lashed out at several officials and threatened a major escalation in their protests.

The former army commander Jean Qahwaji came Friday to the Palace of Justice in Beirut to appear before the judicial investigator Judge Tarek al-Bitar over the Beirut Port blast case.

The session was not held due to the lawyers' strike, and was postponed to Monday, August 2.

As food systems around the world continue to recover from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.N. in Lebanon has hosted a virtual Food Systems Dialogue to inform the first-ever U.N. Food Systems Summit, which will take place in New York in September, about the future of food in Lebanon.

Joanna Wronecka, the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, and UNIFIL Force Commander Stefano Del Col have briefed the U.N. Security Council on the implementation of Resolution 1701, based on the latest report of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Focusing on the recent developments in Lebanon, Wronecka highlighted the country's multiple and accumulating socio-economic, financial and political difficulties and their impact on the people.

Two missiles or their remnants fell overnight in the Lebanese towns of Lehfed in Jbeil and al-Majdal in Koura during an Israeli raid on Hizbullah arms depots in Syria's Homs.

It was not immediately clear whether the missiles were fired by Israeli warplanes or by Syria's air defenses.

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday stressed that the upcoming binding parliamentary consultations to name a new premier-designate will be held on time.

The Presidency on Monday scheduled the binding parliamentary consultations to name a new PM for Monday, July 26.

Saad Hariri had stepped down as PM-designate on Thursday after nine months of futile deliberations, citing deep disagreements with President Michel Aoun.