A Lebanese Forces delegation has met with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and informed him that its "real" presidential candidate is Army chief General Joseph Aoun, al-Akhbar newspaper reported Saturday.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has called on caretaker PM and PM-designate Najib Mikati to "step down so that the president can call for immediate parliamentary consultations that lead to designating someone else" to form a new government.

President Michel Aoun announced Saturday that the formation of a new government before the end of his presidential term “seems to be impossible.”

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Saturday issued a stark warning over what he called an attempt to usurp the president's powers.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil held talks Friday in Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, after which he warned of a domestic-foreign “plot”.

“The ultimate priority is for the election of the president, and unfortunately in a few days we will enter into presidential vacuum, which everyone is tackling as a de facto situation without exerting efforts for dialogue and understanding,” Bassil lamented, warning that keeping the caretaker cabinet amid an expected presidential void would be “adding vacuum on top of vacuum.”

The sister of a Tunisian woman jailed by Saudi Arabia for retweeting a post about Hezbollah on Friday urged Tunis authorities to intervene on her behalf.

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia considers the Shiite group, which is backed by its archfoe Iran, a "terrorist" group.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has reiterated that the U.S.-brokered sea border agreement with Lebanon is “historic,” describing Israeli opposition claims that he conceded far too much to Hezbollah and Lebanon as baseless.

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.