The US State Department announced Monday it will send a senior official to voice the administration's "concern" over the worsening social and political situation in Lebanon.

Hizbullah and the Amal Movement held a consultative meeting Monday and discussed the various political files, topped by the file of the formation of a new government, a joint statement said.

The conferees stressed “the need to finalize the cabinet line-up as soon as possible,” adding that the formation of the new government would allow authorities to “address citizens’ issues and concerns.”

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz on Monday warned that any “unilateral” Lebanese steps regarding the sea border demarcation will be met by “Israeli counter-steps,” shortly after a Lebanese minister said he had signed a decree that would increase the area claimed by Lebanon.

President Michel Aoun on Monday stressed that “national unity” should be preserved in the approach towards the formation of the new government.

“I sensed from His Excellency the President his insistence on honoring the principle of national unity in his dealing with the government formation crisis,” Central Council of the Maronite Societies chief Wadih al-Khazen said after meeting Aoun in Baabda.

Outgoing minister of public works Michel Najjar said Monday that he has signed a decree that would increase the area claimed by the Mediterranean country in a maritime border dispute with Israel.

Najjar told reporters that he has signed an amendment of the decree that would formally extend Lebanon's claims by 1,430 square kilometers (550 square miles). The unilateral move by Lebanon is likely to anger Israel and the U.S. who are not expected to recognize Beirut's extension of the disputed area.

The United States reportedly relayed a “strict” message to Lebanon through the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, regarding the indirect maritime demarcation talks between Lebanon and Israel, media reports said on Monday.

As part of the international mobility towards Lebanon, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs David Hale will arrive in Beirut on Wednesday to meet senior Lebanese officials, media reports said Monday.

Director of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Firass Abiad, said on Monday that the number of covid-19 cases are expected to rise during the holy month of Ramadan due to the ritual gatherings practiced during the month of fasting.

Corrupts “fear forensic audit” whereas “innocents are pleased by it,” President Michel Aoun said Sunday in a tweet.

The president’s tweet comes hours after a stance by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on the issue.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan on Sunday lashed out at “the obstructors of government’s formation,” urging them to end their “intransigence, arrogance, falsification and violation of the constitution.”

“There are malicious hands that are covertly working on obstructing the lauded brotherly Arab efforts and foiling the French initiative,” Daryan warned in a message marking the advent of the holy month of Ramadan.