Caretaker Minister of Finance Ghazi Wazni signed on Friday the letters of credit in favor of Électricité du Liban EDL for the shipment of fuel oil, the National News Agency reported.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said the UNIFIL will study the ways it can possibly help Lebanon counter the threat of an oil spill from Israel affecting Lebanon’s shores.

Circles close to Bkirki sounded the alarm on Friday saying crisis-hit Lebanon faces a threat of “total collapse,” and a genuine fear for the “presence” of its Christian community, al-Akhbar daily reported Friday.

They voiced real concern for the “fate” of Lebanon, noting that “Bkirki can no longer keep silent” while the country is driven to “collapse,” Bkirki sources told the daily.

For almost a week, the Lebanese have been suffering from severe electricity rationing that exceeded 8 hours a day in Beirut, while other areas witnessed daily power rationing that exceeded 12 hours, Asharq el Awsat daily reported on Friday.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has extended the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's (STL) mandate from 1 March 2021 for "a further period of two years, or until the completion of the cases before the STL, if sooner, or until the exhaustion of available funds, if sooner," the STL said on Thursday.

"The extension is in accordance with Security Council resolution 1757 (2007)," the STL added in a statement.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Thursday received a phone call from Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, state-run National News Agency reported.

The phone talks tackled the issue of the new government’s formation, NNA said.

Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc on Thursday criticized the “exchange of accusations” over the formation of the new government, saying it “exposes the flaws of the approach of share splitting.”

It accordingly emphasized “the need for an understanding that leads to the birth of a new, effective and productive government.”

President Michel Aoun on Thursday followed up on new reports regarding a disastrous oil spill off Israel which has affected Lebanon’s shores.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Thursday noted that he has called for an international conference on Lebanon because the Lebanese cannot reach an understanding on their own.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi received on Thursday a delegation from the Free Patriotic Movement in Bkirki, in the aftermath of his calls for a UN-sponsored international conference to handle the problematic Lebanese file.