Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called for national dialogue to find a successor to President Michel Aoun, describing the unsuccessful parliamentary sessions to elect a new president as a pointless "play."

Berri told Asharq al-Awsat, in remarks published Tuesday, that he has started gathering opinions from the political forces about holding a national dialogue after Aoun's term ends, as he considered that "there is no point in calling for more sessions as long as there is no consensus."

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim announced Tuesday that “despite everything that is being said, the efforts are still ongoing in an attempt to form the government.”

Ibrahim has been mediating between the parties, mainly PM-designate Najib Mikati and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, for several weeks now.

Lebanon is still mediating between the United States and Syria over the fate of American journalist Austin Tice who went missing a decade ago in the war-torn country, a Lebanese general said Tuesday.

Washington maintains that Tice is held by Syrian authorities.

There are hidden reasons behind the official Syrian story regarding the rejected meeting on Wednesday between a Lebanese delegation and top Syrian officials, al-Akhbar newspaper reported Tuesday.

The daily claimed that Syria was dismayed that President Michel Aoun's decision to discuss the maritime border demarcation with Syria was not shared with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, and that Mikati did not initiate any contact with Syria.

President Michel Aoun met Tuesday with Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali.

Ali said, in a press conference, before leaving Baabda, that Syria did not "cancel" a scheduled appointment with a Lebanese delegation, but rather apologized for not being able to receive the delegation on Wednesday because of "previously-scheduled appointments".

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati met Tuesday with President Michel Aoun in Baabda and left without making a statement.

Media reports said that the two leaders are not meeting to discuss the deadlocked government formation, but that Mikati is rather paying a farewell courtesy visit to the President, few days before the end of his term.

Already reeling from three years of economic meltdown, Lebanon faces the prospect of its multi-faceted crisis deepening further when President Michel Aoun's mandate expires in a week from now.

The deadline looms as the country is headed by a caretaker administration, since key parties have been unable to agree on a proper government to replace one whose mandate expired in May.

When Michel Aoun became president in 2016, putting an end to a two-year power vacuum due to political wrangling, he vowed to be the "strong" president Lebanon so desperately needed.

But as his mandate draws to a close next week, the country is reeling from an unprecedented economic crisis, with Beirut having been ravaged in 2019 by one of the world's biggest non-nuclear explosions.

With just one week remaining in Lebanese President Michel Aoun's term, lawmakers are no closer to consensus on his successor, amid fears of protracted horse-trading amongst the entrenched elite.

Here is a list of candidates who have either announced they were running for president or emerged as potential frontrunners.

ARAB ART FAIR, the first affordable art fair in the region that brings together art galleries, collectors, and independent artists, will be held for its second edition in Beirut.

Despite the difficult circumstances Lebanon faces, the most prominent art fair for independent artists is coming to Beirut to reignite the passion for art, featuring a roster of artists from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, and more who will be exhibiting their art to local and regional art lovers.