MP Michel Douaihy on Tuesday announced his withdrawal from the reformist, 13-member Change bloc, citing disagreements within the nascent grouping of MPs.

“I’m permanently outside the 13-member Change bloc in its current format. I support turning the bloc into a monthly (or according to need) consultative gathering, while granting a margin of freedom to all MPs in all issues,” Douaihy tweeted.

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday told a delegation from French oil giant TotalEnergies that exploration for gas in Lebanon’s offshort Block 9 “should start quickly to make up for the time that was lost during the indirect negotiations for the demarcation of the southern maritime border.”

According to the state-run National News Agency, the delegation briefed Aoun on the procedural and administrative preparations that TotalEnergies is carrying out in Lebanon ahead of the start of exploration in Block 9.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday accused the Change MPs of breaking an agreement for consensus in the elections of parliamentary committees, as the Change lawmakers lost several key seats.

The National News Agency said the structure of most parliamentary committees remained unchanged, except for a few members.

President Michel Aoun noted Tuesday that “those who contributed to ruining Lebanon cannot be able to rescue it.”

“And those who put obstacles in the way of combating corruption and achieving reform cannot be trusted in the phase of reviving the country. Accordingly, the change that the Lebanese aspire for must be realized,” the President added.

The so-called Druze seat obstacle that is part of many hurdles delaying the new Cabinet’s formation might be resolved through replacing caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine with former minister Manal Abdel Samad, a media report said on Tuesday.

“The current format that is being discussed calls for replacing six ministers: three Christians, including Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Administrative Development Minister Najla Riachi, in addition to the Druze minister and two other ministers – Youssef Khalil (Shiite) and Amin Salam (Sunni),” unnamed sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has met with Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati and Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan as part of his mediation in the government formation file, a media report said on Tuesday.

Al-Liwaa newspaper also said that Mikati might meet with Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat as part of the efforts to resolve the so-called Druze obstacle.

The government formation efforts are nearing conclusion and we are in a race with time, a mediator said.

“There is an ongoing attempt to form a government and things are not totally deadlocked. There is still hope that a government will be formed in the eleventh hour and I don’t believe that the president’s term will end without the formation of a government,” the mediator told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said Tuesday that “working in silence” is better, when asked about the cabinet formation developments.

“We have nothing to say and working in silence is better,” Mikati told al-Jadeed television.

The war in Ukraine and rising demand for natural gas around the world helped speed up a U.S.-mediated maritime border deal between Lebanon and Israel, Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said.

Bassil, who is under sanctions by the U.S., also told The Associated Press in an interview at his office that "it would be a crazy act" if Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati does not form a new government before the six-year term of President Michel Aoun ends Oct. 31. Disagreements between Aoun and Mikati have delayed the formation of a new Cabinet since May 15, following parliamentary elections. Since then, the government has been in a caretaker capacity.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Monday saluted President Michel Aoun for “his persistence in the sea border demarcation process between Lebanon and Israel” and for “his keenness on the unity of decision with each of the parliament speaker and the prime minister.”