Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc on Thursday called on Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to consult with President Michel Aoun in order to speed up the formation of the new government.

“The PM-designate’s consultation and agreement with the president for the issuance of the government’s decrees are not a luxury but rather the natural and constitutional path for Cabinet’s formation,” said the bloc in a statement issued after a periodic meeting.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday lashed out at the Free Patriotic Movement and its supporters in connection with the latest controversy sparked by the actions of Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun.

“The FPM has introduced new concepts to the dictionary of politics in Lebanon, with the protection of the rights of Christian lying in attacking and vandalizing private companies in Awkar, and the fight against corruption being in concealing the culprits as to electricity, telecommunications, customs, illegal border crossings and clientelism in state administrations,” Geagea said in a written statement.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday convened the country’s Higher Defense Council over yesterday’s incidents at the Mecattaf money exchange firm in Awkar.

The area outside the company witnessed scuffles between security forces and supporters of Aoun and his Free Patriotic Movement during a new raid by controversial Judge Ghada Aoun on the firm’s offices.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said after meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, that the Pope is willing to visit Lebanon but after Lebanese leaders form a government, noting that parties obstructing the formation “are known to the Vatican.”

“The Pope wants to visit Lebanon but after a government is formed. This is an important message for us to speed the government formation. The Pope perceives Lebanon as a message of mederation,” said Hariri in remarks to reporters after his meeting with the Pope.

Head of the British Embassy Martin Longden signed a MOU with Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces leadership, and affirmed continuity of UK cooperation that anchors trust and strengthens the resilience of the ISF.

Pope Francis met Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican where talks highlighted the role that the Vatican can play to help Lebanon, the press office of Hariri said in a statement on Thursday.

Discussions highlighted “Lebanon’s historic relations with the Holy See, and the role that the Vatican can play to help Lebanon face its crises,” added the statement.

Caretaker Minister of Agriculture Abbas Mortada gave directives to specialized teams at the ministry on Thursday to be prepared for possible swarms of locusts seen in neighboring Syria.

Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli made "surprising" remarks about the Presidential term of Michel Aoun saying “the term did not achieve the desired outcome,” after which he was reportedly “ousted” from his Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri arrived Wednesday evening in Rome for talks with Pope Francis and top Italian officials.

A statement issued by Hariri’s press office said the PM-designate will meet the pope on Thursday morning.

Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil announced Wednesday that the FPM will “fight till the end until the government’s formation,” during a visit to Bkirki at the invitation of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

“We know that right will win in the end and that the truth is what saves peoples in the eras of major crises… We know that the sacrifices will be big,” Bassil said, ahead of meeting the patriarch.