The recent U.S. sanctions on two former Lebanese ministers and Iran’s alleged desire to delay the formation of a new government in Lebanon until after the U.S. elections have played a role in impeding the cabinet formation process, according to media reports.

Hizbullah and Amal Movement’s current stubbornness can be linked to “two issues: the first is domestic and related to placing Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide MP Ali Hassan Khalil on the U.S. sanctions list,” informed sources told the Anbaa newspaper of the Progressive Socialist Party in remarks published Sunday.

Speaker Nabih Berri has been asked to name any Sunni, Christian or Druze candidate he approves of for the finance ministerial portfolio, in the latest suggestion aimed at breaking the deadlock and facilitating the formation of the new government, media reports said.

“This would protect the principle of the rotation of portfolios,” Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying in remarks published Sunday, noting that such a move would dissuade the Free Patriotic Movement from insisting on the energy portfolio.

The International Support Group for Lebanon has urged Lebanese leaders to “swiftly form an effective and credible government.”

Lebanon's army said Saturday it has carried out a survey of more than 85,000 dwellings, businesses and other building units damaged by the massive Beirut port blast last month.

Former prime ministers of Lebanon emphasized the importance of the French initiative saying it could be a true chance to save Lebanon from “collapse and sedition,” the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

Ex-PMs Najib Miqati, Fouad Saniora, Saad Hariri and Tammam Salam held an evening meeting on Friday at the Center House.

The Lebanese Army assured on Saturday that efforts are ongoing to find all nine missing persons after a mega blast that rocked the port of Beirut over a month ago.

France’s foreign ministry said there was no evidence that Hizbullah stores chemicals in France that can be used to make explosives.

Firas Abiad, director general of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, expressed extreme worry on Saturday after announcing the death of an 18-year-old man of coronavirus.

“I could not sleep well last night. Shocking were the number of coronavirus cases. The increase in the number of new cases was expected, albeit not at this rate,” said Abiad in a tweet.

President Michel Aoun is concerned in making the French initiative succeed and is also determined to reject “sectarianism” in the distribution of ministerial portfolios “including the finance ministry”, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Saturday.

Mohammed Sufian did not dream of much: a job, food on the table, the chance to buy his 2½-year-old son the little things a toddler wants.

So when he heard that smugglers were taking people from his hometown of Tripoli to the nearby Mediterranean island of Cyprus, he decided to take the chance with his pregnant wife and child. To pay their way, he sold his furniture and two of his sister's bracelets.