Consultations to form a new government have kicked off based on a “French paper” and another prepared by ex-PM Saad Hariri, TV networks said on Thursday.

“The talks over the government are based on a French paper that was delivered to a number of Lebanese leaders,” the reports said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday welcomed the verdict issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri while describing it as incomplete.

“The LF supported the STL from the very first moment and that’s why we will accept the verdict issued by it as it is, with all due openness and satisfaction,” Geagea said at a press conference that followed a meeting for the LF-led Strong Republic bloc.

President Michel Aoun said in a tweet on Thursday that he seeks to include in the new government “competent” figures representing anti-government protesters of the October 17 uprising.

The French Embassy in Lebanon issued a statement by the French Foreign Ministry, welcoming the final ruling of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the murder case of ex-PM Rafic Hariri, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly emphasized during his recent talks with officials that naming ex-PM Saad Hariri to form a new government is "a basic need" at this critical stage in Lebanon to prevent attempts to awaken sedition, Saudi Asharq el-Awsat newspaper reported on Thursday.

Supporters of late Lebanese ex-premier Rafic Hariri voiced disappointment over the verdict of UN-backed court on his 2005 assassination issued Tuesday, despite Hariri's son hailing a triumph for truth.

Lebanon's economic crisis doubled poverty rates to more than half the population even before this month's cataclysmic explosion at Beirut's port, a United Nations agency said.

"Estimates reveal that more than 55 percent of the country's population is now trapped in poverty and struggling for bare necessities," the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) said Wednesday.

As the United Nations prepares to renew the mandate of its peacekeeping operation in southern Lebanon, Israel is working with Security Council members to push for tough changes in the way the force deals with the Hizbullah group, Israeli officials said Wednesday.

Israeli diplomatic and military officials say the force, known as UNIFIL, has been largely ineffective and see the upcoming vote on extending its mandate as an opportunity to make reforms.

A Lebanese lawyer filed a legal complaint Wednesday against the country's president and prime minister for allegedly not taking action to remove dangerous material that had been stored at the port of Beirut.

The material — 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in fertilizers and explosives — ignited earlier this month, killing scores and wounding thousands of people.

Grand Sunni Mufti of the Republic Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan called on Wednesday for an international investigation into the colossal Beirut port blast, and a "radical" change to the country’s authority including early elections and formation of an emergency government of specialists.