A fire broke out on Tuesday at the northern port of Tripoli that stepped in after the mega explosion at the country’s major port in Beirut in August, raising eyebrows about frequent similar incidents in the country.

Media reports said the fire broke out in a ship maintenance workshop outside the campus of the Port of Tripoli.

President Michel Aoun called on world leaders on Tuesday to secure the safe return of Syrian refugees in light of Lebanon’s crippling crises.

The Shiite duo, AMAL Movement and Hizbullah, have shown no leniency in relinquishing demands to retain the finance ministerial portfolio and to name their ministers in the upcoming government, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Elie Hasrouty, who lost his father to the August 4 Beirut port blast, is one of at least 1,228 grieving Lebanese preparing to file a lawsuit against the state.  

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Monday voiced criticism in all directions in connection with the ongoing deadlock in the cabinet formation process.

“President Michel Aoun has no right to say that we’re going to hell. I support a settlement and when the storm lashes we must bow,” Jumblat said in an interview with Lebanon’s MTV.

Judicial Investigator Judge Fadi Sawan on Monday heard the testimonies of ex-finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil, General Security intelligence head Munah Sawaya and caretaker PM Hassan Diab’s adviser Khodor Taleb as witnesses in the probe into the catastrophic Aug. 4 explosion at Beirut port.

On Tuesday, Sawan will hear the testimonies of ex-public works minister Ghazi Aridi, Customs Higher Council chief Brig. Gen. Asaad al-Tufaili and Customs Higher Council member Gracia al-Qazzi, also as witnesses, the National News Agency said.

A dual American and Lebanese citizen charged in the U.S. with conspiring to conceal the source of more than $3.5 million in donations during the 2016 U.S. presidential election is in jail in Lithuania, police disclosed Monday.

Police said Ahmad "Andy" Khawaja "performed multimillion-dollar transactions and was in possession of significant amounts of money" when arrested.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed Monday that “no one wants to target Shiites in Lebanon,” in connection with the ongoing row over representation in the new government.

“Some are trying to depict what’s happening in the issue of the formation of the government as being targeted against Shiites, and some have gone to the extent of saying that they will not accept the elimination of an entire sect,” Geagea said in a statement.

Lebanon has retrieved the bodies of four people including a child after they tried to flee the crisis-hit country by sea on an overloaded dinghy, the civil defence said Monday.

President Michel Aoun warned on Monday that Lebanon could be heading towards “hell” if the competing political parties do not agree on a government, stressing that the ministerial portfolios are not distributed on the basis of sects in the Constitution.