Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri held consultations with the country's former premiers on Thursday evening in line with a long-standing Lebanese norm of visiting ex-PMs in the wake of the designation of any new premier.

Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc called Thursday for preserving “the elements of strength represented in the army, the people and the resistance” in order to “continue the liberation of the rest of the occupied Lebanese land, protect the country and preserve its national sovereignty.”

Lebanon's new prime minister Saad Hariri, the son of former billionaire premier Rafik Hariri, is a vociferous critic of Hizbullah and the Syrian regime which he blames for his father's assassination.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri was nominated Thursday to form Lebanon's next government but the process is likely to be hampered by deep differences with Hizbullah.

Hariri's nomination and the election of a president after a vacuum of more than two years have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the influx of over a million Syrian refugees.

Newly designated Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced after his designation on Thursday that he will begin his national duty with openness to all political blocs even those that abstained from naming him, as he assured that he will form a national unity government.

“President of the Republic General Michel Aoun honored me by asking me to form the government. I accepted, and would like to thank him for his confidence and the confidence of the deputies who honored me with this national assignment. I will be open to all parliamentary blocs, including those who did not name me, in accordance with our constitution and our democratic values,” said Hariri from Baabda Palace.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri was named as Lebanon's new prime minister on Thursday, the office of President Michel Aoun announced.

“After the necessary parliamentary consultations... the president has entrusted Saad Hariri with the formation of a government,” said a statement read by the president's chief of staff Antoine Chouqair.

Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance bloc did not name ex-PM Saad Hariri for the premiership, while head of the Development and Liberation bloc Speaker Nabih Berri said it is time to “pay back the debt” to Hariri as his bloc named him prime minister during the binding parliamentary consultations on Thursday with newly elected President General Michel Aoun.

Speaking on behalf of the bloc, MP Mohammed Raad said: “We did not name anyone for the post of prime minister.”

The representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards, Ali Saeedi, said that the United States, Saudi Arabia and Britain had intended to isolate Hizbullah but the party managed through its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's ability to present itself to the society as a model and example for West Asia and Lebanon.

Saeedi told Iran's International Tasnim News Agency that “the election of Aoun as president for Lebanon has definitely limited Saudi Arabia's influence in the country.”

Lebanon's Foreign Ministry began a series of contacts to prepare for the first visit for the newly elected president General Michel Aoun abroad, according to information obtained by Naharnet on Thursday.

Senior diplomatic sources in the Ministry revealed that the President has asked authorities at the foreign and environment ministries of detailed information on the work of Climate Change Conference to be held in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh next week.

Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to “return the favor” and announce his support for al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri for the post of premiership, after some positive signals that Hariri had received in that regard.