President Michel Aoun on Wednesday has requested that now-resigned government of PM Saad Hariri to continue in a caretaker capacity until the formation of a new government, the Directorate-General of the Presidency said on Wednesday.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iraqis and Lebanese on Wednesday to seek their demands within the framework of the law after waves of protests rocked the two countries.

The Lebanese Army and security forces on Wednesday opened several key highways and roads after an army statement calling on protesters to move their rallies to main protest squares and voluntarily open blocked roads.

People expect President Michel Aoun to make a statement on Wednesday announcing the acceptance of the resignation of PM Saad Hariri, who asserted that his Tuesday resignation is “final and effective.”

The day after anti-government protests erupted in Iraq, Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani flew into Baghdad late at night and took a helicopter to the heavily fortified Green Zone, where he surprised a group of top security officials by chairing a meeting in place of the prime minister.

The arrival of Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force and the architect of its regional security apparatus, signaled Tehran's concern over the protests, which had erupted across the capital and in Iraq's Shiite heartland, and included calls for Iran to stop meddling in the country.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri submitted his government's resignation on Tuesday, bowing to nearly two weeks of unprecedented nationwide protests against corruption and sectarianism.

Hariri's sombre televised address was met by cheers from crowds of protesters who have remained mobilised since October 17, crippling the country to press their demands.

As soon as Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation, popular delegations, dignitaries, clerics, former prime ministers, incumbent ministers and al-Mustaqbal Movement MPs from different areas flocked to the Center House to express their support for his decision to resign.

The visitors included former PMs Tamam Salam and Fouad Saniora, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan and the ministers Raya al-Hassan, Mohammed Choucair, Adel Afiouni and Jamal Jarrah.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is closely following the developments in Lebanon, including Tuesday’s resignation announcement by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, his spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

“He appeals for calm and restraint” and “calls on all political actors to seek a political solution that will preserve the stability of the country and respond to the aspirations of the Lebanese people,” Haq added.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis on Tuesday urged Lebanese authorities to “act decisively and quickly to form, within the constitutional norms, a new government responding to the aspiration of the people” in the wake of Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation.

In a statement, he said the new government should be able to gain the Lebanese people’s confidence, to provide security, law and order, and to pursue and implement “deep reforms and changes, to stop the economic decline and put the country on the track of recovery, sustainable development, inclusive growth, and stability, preserving the unity of Lebanon and its people.”

Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation was necessary to prevent “civil strife” in the country.

“PM Saad Hariri’s resignation was necessary to prevent a descent into civil strife,” al-Hassan tweeted, noting that the risk of violence had been manifested in the attacks on protesters in central Beirut which occurred shortly before Hariri’s announcement.