Key roads around Lebanon were blocked by anti-government protesters on Monday following clashes throughout the night with AMAL and Hizbullah supporters.

A British envoy arrived in Beirut on Monday to meet with senior Lebanese officials in light of the latest developments in the country.

Lebanese-American citizen Amer Fakhoury, who has been held in Lebanon since mid-September on suspicion that he tortured prisoners at the Israeli-run Khiam prison, is in poor health and his condition is life-threatening, his family has said, citing doctors.

No charges have been filed against Fakhoury. His lawyer, Celine Atallah, said it remains unclear why he's being held. Fakhoury, however, was once a member of the former Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militia. He also worked as a senior warden at a former prison described by human rights groups as a center for torture.

Caretaker Youth and Sport Minister Mohammed Fneish of Hizbullah emphasized Sunday that the new government cannot be formed without the approval of the parliamentary majority led by Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement.

“There is a political equation in Lebanon called parliament and a government cannot be formed without this parliament’s confidence,” Fneish said.

A number of demonstrators who are part of the anti-corruption protest movement that is sweeping the country on Sunday rallied near the U.S. embassy in Awkar to denounce recent U.S. statements about the situation in Lebanon.

Heightened security measures were taken in the area as a security cordon was imposed several hundred meters away from the embassy to prevent protesters from approaching it.

Five youngsters including several minors were released at dawn Sunday after being arrested around midnight for removing a banner hung outside the offices of the Free Patriotic Movement in the Upper Metn town of Hammana.

The National News Agency said residents of the area were rallying outside the Hammana police station when the five were released.

Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem on Saturday said the United States was “delaying” the formation of a government in Lebanon, stressing that Hizbullah “will not be dragged into sedition,” media reports quoted him as saying.

Protesters closed exchange houses during a demonstration in the northern city of Tripoli, as the country grapples with nationwide protests entering 38th day demanding an overhaul of the whole political class.

The protesters say exchange houses are trading US dollars to the Lebanese pound contrary to the local currency peg set by the central bank.

Jeffrey Feltman, former US ambassador to Lebanon, said that Hizbullah’s reputation “dwindled” throughout the demonstrations in Lebanon and has become part of the political problem in the country, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat daily reported on Saturday.

The Trump administration is withholding more than $100 million in U.S. military assistance to Lebanon that has been approved by Congress and is favored by his national security team, an assertion of executive control of foreign aid that is similar to the delay in support for Ukraine at the center of the impeachment inquiry.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday congratulated Lebanon as the country marked its independence day but made no mention of the hold-up in aid that State Department and Pentagon officials have complained about for weeks.