President Michel Aoun has said that “some time is needed” for results to start emerging from Lebanon’s probe into the devastating August 4 explosion in Beirut.

“We had the will to reach a quick result in the probe into the blast that occurred at Beirut port on August 4, but we eventually realized that things are intertwined and require some time,” said Aoun an in interview with French news channel BFMTV.

US envoy David Hale called Saturday for a "transparent and credible" probe into the monster blast at Beirut's port, as FBI investigators headed for Lebanon.

Hizbulah will ignore the verdict due next week by a UN-backed court on the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri, the movement's leader said Friday.

Aid planes arrived from Iraq, Russia and Kuwait on Saturday as part of relief aid flooding into the crisis-hit country after the colossal blast that flattened much of the capital Beirut, killing at least 181 and wounding more than 6,000.

An Iraqi plane and two other Russian airplanes landed at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, the National News Agency reported.

Firas Abiad, director general of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, warned on Saturday that with coronavirus cases rising in Lebanon mainly after the Beirut blast, the hospital could be forced to shut down temporarily until it regains control.

The United Nations launched an appeal Friday to raise $565 million to help Lebanon recover from this month's devastating port blast that killed 171 people.

The UN said in a statement that the funds would be used to support Lebanon as it moves from immediate life-saving humanitarian relief towards rebuilding its shattered economy.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said the Lebanese state and people should have a say in any response should the investigation into the Beirut port blast prove that Israel was behind it.

“Hizbullah does not have an account of events about the Beirut port blast… Hizbullah is awaiting the results of the investigation,” said Nasrallah in a televised speech marking the 2006 war with Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday warned that the presence of foreign warships on Lebanon’s coast represents “a threat to the Lebanese people and its resistance.”

“The presence of foreign warships on Lebanon’s coast is not normal and it is a threat to the Lebanese people and its resistance,” Zarif, who is on a visit to Lebanon, told al-Mayadeen television in response to a question about the issue.

Judicial investigator into the Beirut port blast Judge Fadi Sawan on Friday received a lawsuit filed by State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat against 25 people including 19 detainees, the National News Agency said.

Sawan also received the files of the preliminary investigations and started studying them ahead of the interrogations that he will kick off on Monday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday called for the formation in Lebanon of “a strong new government that enjoys the support of all Lebanese parties.”