The United States on Friday urged Lebanon's leaders to move urgently to form a government and address a crisis-wracked economy after elections raised fears of new political deadlock.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday called for postponing the debate over his group’s controversial arsenal of weapons for “two more years,” as he called for a quick formation of a new government.

“I agree that the (parliamentary) majority will be on a file-by-file basis,” Nasrallah said in a televised address marking six years since the death in Syria of Hizbullah’s top military commander Mustafa Badreddine.

The employees of state-run mobile network operators Alfa and touch began a strike on Friday morning, which resulted in the closure of all of the two companies’ stores and disrupted bill payment services and the distribution of recharge cards.

A technical malfunction also hit a key station in the Corniche el-Nahr area and was not repaired due to the strike.

Cabinet on Friday approved the economic recovery plan amid the objection of the ministers of Hizbullah and the Amal Movement, TV networks said.

It also approved $35 million for cancer and chronic illness medicines, noting that the amount “will be provided in fresh dollars by the housing bank.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it has designated Ahmad Jalal Reda Abdallah, a Lebanese businessman and Hizbullah “financial facilitator,” as well as five of his associates and eight of his companies in Lebanon and Iraq.

“This action illuminates Hizbullah’s modus operandi of using the cover of seemingly legitimate businesses to generate revenue and leverage commercial investments across a multitude of sectors to secretly fund Hizbullah and its terrorist activities. It also demonstrates how Hizbullah goes to great lengths to establish companies with opaque ownership structure in order to conceal their involvement in these businesses, and also their involvement in criminal activities such as altering of medication labels for black market pharmaceutical sales,” the Treasury said in a statement.

The Progressive Socialist Party has made up his mind regarding re-electing Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, in remarks published Friday, that this is the party's definitive decision as "Berri represents one of the most prominent political and confessional components in Parliament."

The newly elected reformist MPs have discussed forming a unified parliamentary bloc, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said Friday.

The MPs had met on Wednesday and will meet again on Monday to discuss forming a unified parliamentary bloc of at least 13 MPs.

The Israeli army accused Friday Hizbullah of "exposing civilians to danger" by transferring arms on civilian flights from Iran to Damascus.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed in a tweet in Arabic that the transfer is managed by Reda Safieddine, son of Head of Hizbullah's Executive Council Hashem Safieddine.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the idea of nominating a non-Shiite speaker does not bother him.

The possibility has been suggested by some newly elected reformists as all Shiite seats in parliament were won by Hizbullah and the veteran speaker's own Amal party. Berri has held the position that goes by convention to a Shiite Muslim since 1992.

Telecommunications Minister Johnny Corm on Thursday said Cabinet has a “last chance” to save the telecom sector from collapse in Friday’s session, warning that his resignation is on the table if no action is taken.

“If the decree of hiking telecom tariffs is not approved, do not hold me responsible. The elections are over and the issue no longer bears politicization. The failure to approve the tariff will affect citizens in a more negative manner and in the name of the Lebanese economy we are raising our voices,” Corm said at a press conference.