Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri hoped Sunday that the “ongoing efforts” in the country will soon lead to the election of a new president.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Sunday urged the Lebanese government to back ex-Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh in his bid to become head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Officials from the Free Patriotic Movement and al-Mustaqbal movement exchanged tirades on Sunday after FPM chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil warned that there are indirect efforts to naturalize Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stressed on Sunday that the failure to elect a president destroys Lebanon's unity and makes it an open ground for the naturalization of refugees.

“Refraining from electing a president for over two years now is gradually destroying our internal unity and Lebanon's position at the international level. It makes our country a free ground for the naturalization of refugees,” al-Rahi stated during the Easter mass held in Bkirki.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said on Sunday that the measures taken by Gulf countries against Lebanon were the result of fiery statements made by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the ill-defined stances of Foreign Minster Jebran Bassil.

“The Gulf measures against Lebanon were the result of the convulsive statements made by Nasrallah and the ambiguous stances of Bassil,” Jumblat told the daily al-Arab in an interview.

March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid urged Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to take advantage of his friendship with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hizbullah in order to convince them to stop killing the Syrians so they do not flow into Lebanon for shelter, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Sunday.

“The first thing that the Lebanese must do to counter the influx of Syrians is to urge the Foreign Minister to talk to the friends of Bashar, that is Hizbullah, who is killing the people in Syria and to ask the Syrian regime itself to stop killing its people so they do not flow into Lebanon,” Soaid stated to the daily.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq issued a decree on Saturday calling electoral bodies to take part in the municipal elections.

“I made a promise and I committed to it,” he said.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil warned on Saturday that there are indirect efforts to naturalize Syrian refugees in Lebanon, while warning that terrorism is a product of the refugee crisis.

He urged during a press conference “the adoption of unilateral and sovereign steps, otherwise naturalization will be imposed on us.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi handed United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon a memo on the ongoing presidential vacuum during the talks they held on Friday, reported An Nahar daily on Saturday.

The memo includes a demand that the international community assume its responsibilities towards Lebanon regarding the presidential deadlock.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi highlighted on Saturday Lebanon's diverse identity as attested by various thinkers and officials, while stressing the importance of maintaining this diversity.

He said during his Easter message: “Lebanon can preserve its identity by remaining neutral and steering clear of regional and international axes.”