MP Ziad Hawat criticized on Thursday the State’s failure to resolve Lebanon’s chronic electricity crisis.

"The electricity disaster is the fruit of your epic failure to secure this service for years," Hawat said via Twitter.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement former MP Ammar Houri on Thursday blamed Hizbullah party for the government formation delay, as he assured that head of the Movement, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri’s presence in Paris is only “temporary.”

“When Hizbullah sees that the regional situation suits it, only then will it let the government be formed,” Houri said in remarks he made to VDL (100.5) radio station.

Pessimism regarding the Cabinet formation grew on Tuesday in the absence of consultations to ease the latest hurdle hampering the formation process, amid concerns the delay could persist until the end of the year, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

Caretaker Economy Minister Raed Khoury said that strict measures will be taken against private generators owners who enforced a two-hour shutdown on Tuesday depriving subscribers from power supply, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

Private generator owners announced a two-hour shutdown on Tuesday in protest to what they called “campaigns against them.”

They said during a press conference that generators will be shutdown between 5:00 and 7:00 PM in protest to “unfair pricing” set by the Energy Ministry.

Banque Du Liban's second vice-governor Saad Andari announced during a conference that Lebanon expects to start exploratory offshore drilling for oil and gas by the end of 2019, LBCI news said on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Finance confirmed there was no direct effect on Lebanon as the result of sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran, “because the banking and financial system in Lebanon comply with the international rules,” al-Joumhouria daily reported in Tuesday.

Discussions about the government formation process and the “Sunni representation obstacle” were reportedly held between President Michel Aoun and Hizbullah party, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily said on Tuesday.

Lebanese citizen and permanent U.S. resident Nizar Zakka has lamented that the Lebanese state seems to be in “full coma” over his continued imprisonment in Iran.

In a statement distributed by his family, Zakka thanked the Iranian “political prisoners” who are jailed with him “underground” for celebrating his birthday.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri contacted President Michel Aoun from Paris and informed him on the outcome of his contacts with Algerian officials that led to the decision to unload fuel from the two Algerian tanker ships to supply Electricite Du Liban, the Premier’s press office said on Monday.