Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari on Tuesday called for the election of a “sovereign” president in Lebanon.

“The Saudi-Lebanese relations would improve after the formation of a new government and the election of a sovereign president who would regain the confidence of Saudi Arabia and the countries concerned with the Lebanese file,” Bukhari said during a visit to the Bekaa.

Caretaker PM and PM-designate Najib Mikati has rejected an eleventh-hour offer by outgoing President Michel Aoun for reinstating his caretaker cabinet without changing any of its ministers, TV networks said.

“Presidency Secretary-General Antoine Choucair visited PM Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail on Monday morning, prior to the latter’s departure to Algeria for representing Lebanon at the Arab Summit,” al-Jadeed TV said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday warned that political vacuum is occurring in Lebanon while the country is "facing a deteriorating socioeconomic situation."

Already mired in political and economic crises, Lebanon is now also without a president after Michel Aoun's mandate expired without a successor.

Aoun's six-year term, that came to a close on Sunday, was marred by mass protests, a painful economic downturn and the August 2020 mega-explosion of ammonium nitrate that killed hundreds and laid waste to swathes of the capital Beirut.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati will attend today, Tuesday, the 31st Arab League summit in Algeria, as the region battles to find common ground over a series of divisive issues.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad -- both from former President Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement's camp -- accompanied Mikati to Algeria.

As part of its "continuous and ongoing efforts to fight the cholera outbreak in Lebanon," Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has adapted its hospital in Bar Elias, in the Bekaa valley, to receive and treat cholera patients with an initial capacity of 20 beds, which can be expanded according to the needs, a statement said.

With the adaptations done, the hospital will continue to function for urgent surgical procedures.

A deadly cholera outbreak is spreading "rapidly" across Lebanon, exacerbated by a prolonged economic crisis and crumbling infrastructure, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Monday.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil will announce his presidential nomination on Tuesday and will declare “rebellion” against caretaker PM Najib Mikati and the boycott of Speaker Nabih Berri’s dialogue, senior FPM official Naji Hayek said overnight.

Sources following up on Bassil’s political movements meanwhile told Nidaa al-Watan newspaper that he intends to take steps to “pressure” and “embarrass” Hezbollah by telling it, “Either I am your presidential candidate or no one will be.”

The five ministers who intend to boycott the caretaker cabinet “can ask to be relieved of their duties,” caretaker PM Najib Mikati has said, amid controversy over the legitimacy of his cabinet in the event of presidential vacuum.

“We would either replace them or acting ministers can take charge of their ministries,” Mikati added, in remarks to al-Jadeed TV, while ruling out that the five ministers would choose to boycott cabinet.

The country is “headed for disaster amid presidential and governmental vacuum” and “there is still a chance to form a government in the final moments” of President Michel Aoun’s term, Free Patriotic Movement sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Monday.