Minister of Tourism Walid Nassar has been mediating between Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, in a desperate attempt to overcome the obstacles hindering the formation of a new government before President Michel Aoun's term ends, media reports said.

A report, published Friday in al-Joumhouriah newspaper, said that Mikati has prepared all what is needed to "fortify" his caretaker government, once Aoun's term ends.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday dismissed Speaker Nabih Berri’s call for dialogue over the country’s next president.

“I was not very relieved when I heard about Speaker Berri's dialogue invitations,” Geagea said at a press conference that followed a meeting for the LF-led Strong Republic bloc.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati swiftly hit back overnight at remarks by President Michel Aoun, accusing him of distorting facts.

“I agree with His Excellency that the constitution is the guide and reference in all issues. But as for what His Excellency said about private matters and curtailed, distorted or untrue details, I will only say regretfully: sometimes our elderly’s memory fail them, so facts get mixed up with wishes and realities get mixed up with illusions,” Mikati said in a statement.

A Cypriot delegation met Friday with President Michel Aoun over the maritime border demarcation between Lebanon and Cyprus, in the presence of Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab.

After the maritime border deal with Israel, Lebanon reached out to Syria and Cyprus to start direct negotiations over their northern and western maritime borders.

What President Michel Aoun regrets, he jokingly told reporters, is having never accepted any bribe from any country like other politicians did.

Aoun said Friday, in a farewell meeting with journalists, that absolutely no one from the political leaders has helped him to fight corruption, using the Oct. 17 famous slogan "All of them means all of them."

Israel and Lebanon on Thursday concluded a long-awaited deal to delimit their maritime borders, as Israel this week activated the key Karish gas field unlocked by the agreement.

The offshore field is crucial to Israel's ambitions to tap into European markets, and on Wednesday London-listed firm Energean said it had already begun producing gas from Karish ahead of the signing of the U.S.-brokered deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that the "historic achievement" of the sea border deal between Lebanon and Israel "will advance security, stability, and prosperity for the region," and that it demonstrates "the transformative power of American diplomacy."

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka on Thursday warmly welcomed “the handover of letters delineating the maritime boundary between Lebanon and Israel following successful U.S. mediation, under the leadership of Special Presidential Coordinator Amos Hochstein.”

“This is a historic achievement at many levels. I hope it will serve as a confidence-building measure that promotes more security and stability in the region and economic benefits for both countries,” said the Special Coordinator who received the signed maritime coordinates from both sides at the UNIFIL premises in Naqoura. The Special Coordinator will deposit the documents at the U.N. Headquarters in New York.

Hezbollah will end an "exceptional" mobilization against Israel after threatening to attack for months, its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday after Lebanon and Israel struck a maritime border deal.

"All the exceptional and special measures and mobilization carried out by the resistance for several months are now declared over," Nasrallah said in a televised speech, calling the agreement a "very big victory for Lebanon and its state, people and resistance."

Lebanon and Israel formally concluded a "historic" maritime border deal on Thursday in the presence of U.S. officials, U.S. President Joe Biden said.

"Both parties took the final steps to bring the agreement into force and submitted the final paperwork to the United Nations in the presence of the United States," Biden said in a statement.