Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani arrived in Lebanon Tuesday on a one-day official visit.

He was welcomed at the airport by caretaker Deputy PM and Defense and Foreign Minister Zeina Akar and Qatari Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Hassan al-Jaber.

Will the upcoming days be decisive regarding the long-awaited formation of the new government, as Hizbullah chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said in his televised speech on Monday? Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has shown flexibility, but sources expect PM-designate Saad Hariri to apologize.

In remarks to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Tuesday, informed sources linked Nasrallah’s words about “decisive days” to a “new development”: the flexibility that Bassil has shown regarding Hariri’s demand that his government obtain a “prior vote of confidence” from the FPM, which would facilitate the government formation.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called on Tuesday for a joint session of the Parliament Bureau and the Administration and Justice Committee, to study a request to lift the immunity of three MPs in the Beirut Port blast case.

Judge Tarek al-Bitar had asked parliament to lift the immunity of the MPs Ali Hassan Khalil, Ghazi Zoaiter and Nouhad al-Mashnouq.

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani will arrive in Lebanon at 5pm Tuesday on a one-day official visit, the Qatari embassy said on Monday.

The minister will hold separate meetings with President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, the embassy added in a statement.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday said decisive meetings will be held this week regarding the issue of the new government, as he criticized the course of the probe into the catastrophic 2020 explosion at the port of Beirut.

“These days are supposed to be decisive regarding the cabinet formation issue and the meetings that will be held today, tomorrow and Wednesday can make things clearer,” Nasrallah said in a televised address.

Member of the Syndicate of Station Owners, George al-Braks, confirmed on Monday that "the indications point to an agreement to unload the cargo of (gasoline) ships parked at the Lebanese shores today.”

He assured that gasoline will be distributed, which will lead to an “increase in the number of stations that will operate normally, and a decrease in the queues that we have been seeing in the streets lately."

By Martin Longden, Head of Mission of the British Embassy Beirut

There have been better times to be head of the British Embassy in Lebanon. The crises buffeting this wonderful and troubled country – from the port explosion, to the Covid pandemic, to the economic collapse – have dulled Lebanon’s shine, impoverishing the people and putting both state institutions and the private sector under intolerable pressure. With no prospect in sight of a government capable of gripping the situation, Lebanon’s situation looks increasingly precarious.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday warned that spending from the central bank's obligatory reserve of foreign currencies "has started."

“The President, the caretaker prime minister, the finance minister and the central bank governor bear the responsibility for eradicating what is left of depositors’ money,” Geagea said in a tweet.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement deputy chief Mustafa Alloush has suggested that “the country will collapse and disintegrate before the government’s formation” should the current political course continue as it is.

In a TV interview, Alloush also noted that the presence of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri outside Lebanon is “a lot more important than his presence in the country.”

The issue of PM-designate Saad Hariri’s resignation is not pressing anymore and Hariri will return to Beirut within 48 hours, sources close to him have said.

“Things are still in the hands of President Michel Aoun regarding the possibility of forming a mission-driven government without a blocking one-third and the ball is in his court,” the sources added, in remarks to OTV.