The line-up submitted by PM-designate Najib Mikati to President Michel Aoun on Wednesday contained changes to five to six ministerial portfolios from the current government, including the energy portfolio, TV networks said.

“Mikati proposed a specialist who is not close to the Free Patriotic Movement for the energy and water portfolio,” MTV reported. He also suggested a Beiruti candidate for the economy ministry who is close to the civil society parties, the TV network added.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has accused Iran and Hezbollah of trying to cyberattack the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

He claimed in a conference that the aim of the cyberattack is to "steal materials about its activities and deployment in the area, for Hezbollah’s use."

Free Patriotic Movement MP Alain Aoun has said that his party would accept giving up the energy ministerial portfolio in the upcoming government.

Aoun told LBCI that the ministry of energy is not an exclusive FPM portfolio.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati handed President Michel Aoun the new government’s draft line-up on Wednesday, after two days of non-binding consultations with MPs over the shape and program of the government that he intends to form.

"I have presented to President Aoun the government line-up that I consider appropriate in these circumstances," Mikati said from Baabda, after meeting with Aoun.

President Michel Aoun stressed Tuesday that the judiciary “must deserve its independence” instead of “begging for it.”

“Alone I have taken the oath to be loyal to the constitution and laws of the Lebanese nation, and the pillars of our constitutional system include powers’ separation, balance and cooperation, not the hegemony of an authority over another,” Aoun tweeted.

PM-designate Najib Mikati has a vision for the shape of the new government and it will become clear very soon, informed sources said.

“Several formats are being discussed behind the scenes,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

The U.S. State Department’s statement about U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein’s talks with Israel over sea border demarcation is a “positive” sign, Lebanon’s Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said on Tuesday.

“We appreciate the U.S. administration’s pledge to communicate in the coming days and we hope it will lead to the resumption of the indirect negotiations in Naqoura,” Bou Saab added.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil announced Tuesday that the FPM’s participation in the new government would depend on its line-up and program, as he called for a “comprehensive or partial rotation of ministerial portfolios.”

“We wished the PM-designate success and stressed to him that we want a speedy government formation,” Bassil said after meeting PM-designate Najib Mikati along with the Strong Lebanon bloc, as part of the non-binding consultations to form a new government.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Tuesday hoped that the “national interest” will “triumph over everything,” following the two-day, non-binding consultations that he held with MPs over the shape and program of the government that he intends to form.

“I listened to the MPs and explored their opinions and we’ll take a large part of what they said into consideration,” Mikati said at a brief press conference that followed the consultations.

The Kataeb parliamentary bloc on Monday called on PM-designate Najib Mikati to “submit his government line-up within two weeks,” as MP Tony Franjieh of the Independent National bloc called on the Free Patriotic Movement to allow another party to be in charge of the energy ministerial portfolio.

“Waiting would be a collective crime committed by the political parties against the people… and the PM-designate must submit his government line-up within two weeks,” Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel said after meeting Mikati during the non-binding consultations.