An almost “final” agreement has reportedly been reached between political parties in crisis-hit Lebanon to form a 14-minister government, two days after PM Saad Hariri was designated for the task, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Lebanon on Friday announced 1,534 new COVID-19 deaths, the highest daily tally so far for the small country since the first infection was detected on February 21.

In its daily statement, the Health Ministry said 1,460 of the cases were confirmed among residents and 74 among people coming from abroad.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis and U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator/Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Najat Rochdi on Friday issued a joint statement marking the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday announced that the United States “will continue to target, disrupt, and dismantle Hizbullah’s financing and operational networks,” in a statement marking the 1983 bomb attack on the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. service members.

“This attack, and the many more that followed around the world, make clear Hizbullah’s commitment to violence and bloodshed and demonstrate its continuing disregard for the lives of the very people that it claims to protect.  These terrorist acts have unmasked Iran, Hizbullah’s patron, as a rogue state willing to pursue its malevolent interests at all costs,” Pompeo said.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Friday described the non-binding consultations he held with parliamentary blocs as “positive,” noting that the discussions focused on the reforms that the new government should implement “as soon as possible.”

“This government will be a government of specialists, so that we work quickly according to the French reform paper,” Hariri announced after the consultations.

After more than three weeks of engineering work in Beirut in support of and coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), to deal with the aftermath of the tragic August 4 explosions, a UNIFIL detachment of multinational force returned Friday to the Mission's area of operations in south Lebanon, the U.N. force said.

Nearly 150 peacekeepers from 13 of UNIFIL's 45 contingents facilitated the resumption of operations at the Beirut Port by clearing 11,500 tons of debris and carried out construction works. In the process, they also dismantled four of the damaged warehouses.

The head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad on Friday advised Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to seek “understandings with all blocs.”

“We explained our viewpoint on two issues: the first is related to the government’s role and we have largely reached consensus on it, and we also emphasized on priorities related to the current period, especially after the surge in coronavirus cases at a time the health sector needs to be enhanced,” Raad said after meeting Hariri along with a delegation from the bloc.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and a delegation from the Strong Lebanon bloc on Friday held talks with PM-designate Saad Hariri as part of the latter’s non-binding consultations with MPs over the shape and program of the new government.

“We fulfilled our constitutional duty by heeding the PM-designate’s invitation to consultations and the discussion was responsible, frank and open. This confirms that there is no personal problem,” Bassil said after the meeting.

PM-designate Saad Hariri began consultations with MPs on Friday to form a cabinet one day after President Michel Aoun assigned him for the task.

One year after mass protests pushed him to resign, Saad Hariri is back as Lebanon's prime minister designate to draw together a pro-reform cabinet that can save the crisis-hit country.

What circumstances brought him back? What do the international community and key players inside Lebanon think? And will the consensus on him being named make his tricky task any easier?