The head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad on Friday advised Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to seek “understandings with all blocs.”

“We explained our viewpoint on two issues: the first is related to the government’s role and we have largely reached consensus on it, and we also emphasized on priorities related to the current period, especially after the surge in coronavirus cases at a time the health sector needs to be enhanced,” Raad said after meeting Hariri along with a delegation from the bloc.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and a delegation from the Strong Lebanon bloc on Friday held talks with PM-designate Saad Hariri as part of the latter’s non-binding consultations with MPs over the shape and program of the new government.

“We fulfilled our constitutional duty by heeding the PM-designate’s invitation to consultations and the discussion was responsible, frank and open. This confirms that there is no personal problem,” Bassil said after the meeting.

PM-designate Saad Hariri began consultations with MPs on Friday to form a cabinet one day after President Michel Aoun assigned him for the task.

One year after mass protests pushed him to resign, Saad Hariri is back as Lebanon's prime minister designate to draw together a pro-reform cabinet that can save the crisis-hit country.

What circumstances brought him back? What do the international community and key players inside Lebanon think? And will the consensus on him being named make his tricky task any easier?

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim flew back from the United States on Friday after holding talks with a number of US officials, the General Security Directorate said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two members of Hizbullah’s Central Council, Nabil Qaouk and Hassan al-Baghdadi, it said in a press release on Friday.

Qaouk and Baghdad “are responsible for creating and implementing the terrorist organization’s destabilizing and violent agenda against U.S. interests and those of our partners around the world,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

Media office of the Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil denied on Friday the Israeli reports claiming the lawmaker had held sea border talks with Israeli officials.

The European Union stressed Thursday the "need for the swift formation of a credible and accountable government" in Lebanon, after ex-PM Saad Hariri was designated to form a new government.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri hinted Thursday that he intends to cooperate with all parties in the coming period.

“If the country’s interest requires an understanding with everyone, then the country’s interest should come first,” Hariri told reporters.

Saad Hariri was tasked with forming a new government Thursday, a year after he was toppled amid nationwide protests against widespread corruption and a flunking economy.

President Michel Aoun designated Hariri to form the next government after a slight majority of votes from lawmakers, securing the return of an old name to lead the country desperate for change.