Lebanon's prime minister named a new government on Saturday, the presidency announced, after an agreement was reached to appoint Fadi Makki as the so-called "fifth Shiite minister." Makki will serve as State Minister for Administrative Development.

Premier Nawaf Salam vowed to "restore confidence between citizens and the state, between Lebanon and its Arab surroundings, and between Lebanon and the international community" and to implement reforms needed to bring the country out of an extended economic crisis.

The atmosphere is positive regarding the naming of the so-called “fifth Shiite minister” in the new cabinet and PM-designate Nawaf Salam might visit the Baabda Palace in the afternoon, MTV reported on Saturday.

President Joseph Aoun and Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa discussed fighting that has broken out on the border between the two countries “and agreed to coordinate to control the situation and prevent targeting civilians,” Aoun’s office said in a statement.

Clashes have been ongoing for three days between Syrian security forces and Lebanese clans in the border area.

The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, slammed comments by visiting U.S. official Morgan Ortagus on Friday as "blatant interference" in Lebanon's affairs.

Ortagus's statement was "full of malice and irresponsibility" and attacked a component of "Lebanese political life", Raad said in a statement, adding that the remarks amounted to "blatant interference in Lebanon's sovereignty".

The Lebanese judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion questioned two people on Friday in connection with the deadly blast after a years-long pause, a judicial official said.

Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation last month, charging 10 people including security, customs and military personnel after a two-year hiatus in the probe into the August 4, 2020 explosion that killed more than 220 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of Lebanon's capital.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat quoted Friday former Lebanese Prime Minister Saeb Salam, urging Lebanese leaders to form an inclusive government as progress stalled following a meeting Thursday between the Lebanese President, PM-designate, and Parliament speaker.

Jumblat said, in remarks published Friday in al-Joumhouria, that it is time to remember Salam's words "There are no winners and no losers" in order to succeed in managing Lebanon's complicated situation and national junctures, including the new government formation.

A number of Hezbollah supporters started gathering Friday outside Beirut’s airport for a sit-in protesting the anti-Hezbollah remarks that U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus voiced from Baabda after her meeting with President Joseph Aoun.

“The Lebanese Army has reinforced its deployment outside the airport,” the National News Agency said.

New Syria's Military Operations Administration managed to take control of the Hawik village on the Syria-Lebanon border after fierce battles against drug smugglers and gunmen "close to the Lebanese Hezbollah" group, a Syria war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday that the Syrian militants attacked different villages in the western countryside of Homs, including Hawik, Bluzah, Al-Fadliyah, and Akoum "with Shaheen drones, artillery fire, and heavy weapons."

A Cyprus court sentenced a Syrian national to three years in prison after finding him guilty of causing the death by negligence of a 3-year-old girl from dehydration aboard an overloaded migrant boat that was adrift for six days without adequate supplies of food and water.

The Attorney-General's Office said Friday the Famagusta criminal court ruled that the 48-year-old captain had failed to ensure the safety of the 60 Syrian migrants aboard the small wooden craft that carried no navigational aids or appropriate communications equipment.

President Joseph Aoun on Friday told the visiting Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus that “permanent stability in the South hinges on completing Israel’s withdrawal from the territory that it occupied during the last war, and the implementation of Resolution 1701 with all its terms, including the requirements of the Nov. 27 agreement.”