The US Department of State on Friday congratulated Lebanon on Independence Day, affirming willingness to cooperate with a new Lebanese government meeting the aspirations of its people, one day after Trump's letter to Aoun in the same context.

Lebanon's top politicians are attending a military parade on the country's 76th Independence Day.

They appeared together Friday for the first time since the government resigned amid nationwide protests.

Marking the country’s Independence Day, Lebanese, in a first in Lebanon’s history, will go on nationwide “civil marches” marking the occasion as the uprising enters day 37.

An unknown assailant on Friday torched the large clenched fist with “revolution” written on it that demonstrators raised at Martyrs’ Square in Central Beirut.

Protesters blocked several key roads across Lebanon on Thursday evening shortly after a televised address by President Michel Aoun.

The protesters first blocked the vital Ring highway in central Beirut. Road-blocking action later spread to the highway that links Beirut to the South with protesters blocking it in the Naameh area.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday blamed the delay in forming a new government on Lebanon’s “contradictions,” as he re-invited protesters to dialogue with him.

“The time is not for speeches but rather for hard work… The challenges are dangerous and we've wasted a lot of time,” Aoun said in an address to the nation on the eve of Lebanon’s Independence Day.

The French embassy in Beirut on Thursday greeted the Lebanese on the eve of their Independence Day, stressing that “France will always stand by Lebanon, with which it has a very solid relation.”

“Today, as the country writes a new chapter of its history, amid a dire economic course, France strongly hopes for the formation of an active and credible new government as soon as possible,” the embassy said in a statement.

The army on Thursday confiscated a quantity of explosives in the Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen.

“An Intelligence Directorate patrol raided the house of Lebanese citizen Z.Kh. in the Jabal Mohsen area, Tripoli, arresting him along with R.Kh. and A.S.,” an army statement said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday called on Lebanese to show unity and “protect independence.”

“The same as the Lebanese made their independence 76 years ago through unity, all Lebanese are today asked to protect independence or rather to recreate it through bolstering their unity and avoiding the traps of sedition,” Berri said in a statement marking Independence Day.

Caretaker Information Minister and ex-Telecom Minister Jamal Jarrah on Thursday lashed out at Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim, accusing him of corruption and of exceeding his jurisdiction.

Jarrah’s remarks come a day after Ibrahim filed lawsuits against him and against two other former telecom ministers – Nicolas Sehnaoui and Butros Harb – over charges related to wasting public funds. Jarrah is being additional sued over “embezzlement.”