President Michel Aoun on Wednesday lashed out at caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri over his latest remarks and announced that the new government will be a “government of experts.”

Speaking to reporters in Bkirki after a closed-door meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on the sidelines of Christmas Day mass, Aoun hoped Lebanon will “manage to overcome its current crisis” and that the Lebanese will have a new government as a “New Year’s gift.”

Panic set in on a WhatsApp group used to organize Lebanese protests when one member said he intended to kill himself because he can't provide for his kids.

The desperate call came on the heels of the suicide of a father of two that had stunned the public and raised alarm over how dire Lebanon's economic conditions have become.

Lebanon's caretaker finance minister accused has the country's banks of "trapping" civil servants' salaries with withdrawal limits that have fueled public anger in the crisis-stricken country.

"What is happening in some Lebanese banks is unacceptable," Ali Hassan Khalil wrote on Twitter.

Ex-interior minister and Beirut MP Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Tuesday said Iran has welcomed the designation of new PM Hassan Diab which proves that the latter “does not represent the Lebanese or the Sunni community in Beirut.”

A group of students staged a sit-in near Lebanon’s central bank in Hamra protesting the bank’s “financial and economic policies,” as the nation faces its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The protesters voiced calls for “change,” asserting refusal to pay taxes, demanding that levies be imposed on “profits and insurance."

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said in his Christmas message on Tuesday that officials have brought Lebanon to economic and financial collapse and the Lebanese to poverty.

Lebanon’s demonstrators clearly conveyed to PM-designate Hassan Diab that they are not ready to extend support, or accept a PM designated by the “Shiite duo” (Hizbullah and AMAL Movement) and their allies, the Kuwaiti As-Siyasah newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri said there is nothing wrong with forming a “one-sided” government if the PM-designate Hassan Diab fails to convince all political parties to participate in the cabinet he is about to form, media reports said on Tuesday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has warned that the Chouf and Aley regions and the entire country are “on the brink of hunger” due to the dire economic crisis.

“The economy is on the verge of collapse if it is not already collapsing. Lebanon cannot continue on the same path it has followed for tens of years – a country of services, tourism, hotels, restaurants and banks without production – this is unhealthy,” said Jumblat in a phone call with a number of Lebanese expats in the U.S. and Canada, according to Lebanon’s official news agency.

Caretaker Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab on Monday blasted Israel for violating Lebanon’s airspace to carry out a strike on military posts in Syria.

“I’ve looked into the Lebanese Army’s report on the hostile Israeli violations of Lebanon’s skies yesterday, which targeted Syria via the Lebanese airspace,” Bou Saab tweeted.