The formation of a 24-member cabinet is disapproved by the Hizbullah, AMAL and the Progressive Socialist parties because they prefer to have bigger shares in the new cabinet and to include all political parties, An Nahar daily reported Thursday.

AMAL Movement leader Speaker Nabih Berri dispatched his political aid and Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil to Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri a day earlier, asking him to widen the cabinet into 30 members in order for the Shiite parties to get five ministerial portfolios instead of four that include the finance, agriculture, economy for the AMAL and the industry and youth and sports for Hizbullah, according to the daily.

Hopes faded Wednesday when the anticipated formation of a new cabinet saw new obstacles some linked to the number of ministers and another related to the names suggested for some ministries, media reports said Thursday.

Stakes grew the day before that a cabinet comprised of 30 ministers will be formed which sent hopes surging that it will be completed and that all the problems have been eased.

Free Patriotic Movement chief and caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed Wednesday that the FPM's alliance with Hizbullah is firm as he noted that the FPM “has the ability” to ask the party to withdraw its fighters from Syria.

Palestinian brothers Moein and Nabil Abdul Rahman were killed and their brother Youssef was wounded when a dispute escalated into an armed clash in the Mieh Mieh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, state-run National News Agency reported.

A Free Patriotic Movement delegation tasked with pushing for the adoption of a new electoral law held talks Wednesday in Clemenceau with Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat, after which it announced that the PSP leader is not totally opposed to the proportional representation system.

Mohammed Monzer was on Wednesday sentenced to 22 years in jail after he was convicted of shooting dead his wife, Ruqayya Monzer, media reports said.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri held talks Wednesday with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace, amid reports that the cabinet line-up will be announced in the coming hours after the main obstacles were resolved.

Speaker Nabih Berri announced Wednesday that “there is no justification to further delay the cabinet line-up” after the latest developments, noting that his AMAL Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement have “identical viewpoints” on the electoral law.

The Lebanese Forces denied on Wednesday media reports alleging that the party had vetoed the participation of the Kataeb party in the upcoming government.

“The LF did not put any veto on Kataeb nor on any other party,” an LF statement said.

A delegation of the Free Patriotic Movement met with Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh on Wednesday as part of a tour with various political parties to discuss the need to devise a new electoral law ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The delegation comprised of MPs Alain Aoun, Ziad Aswad and Walid Khoury.