Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi declared at the opening of the Synod on Monday that the future government must be “distinguished” from its predecessors and is required to draw up a rescue plan.

A "high-ranking" Russian delegation is expected to arrive in Beirut mid week for “very important” talks with senior Lebanese officials in light of a crunching economic and financial crisis in the country, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

The delegations’ visit comes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov postponed a planned visit this month to the capital.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri held a meeting Sunday afternoon with President Michel Aoun, their second meeting in the past 48 hours.

“Progress was made in the file of the formation of the new government,” the Presidency announced in a tweet after the talks.

Hizbullah said Sunday that it strongly condemns the “intentional insult” against Prophet Mohammed, expressing its “categorical rejection of the official French stance encouraging these dangerous insults.”

“What was published in France harms the sentiments of more than two billion Muslims, including the Islamic and Arab expat community that has been living for decades in Europe and France,” Hizbullah said in a statement.

Firefighters were on Sunday combating several wildfires that erupted in the southern districts of Sidon and Tyre.

“The al-Sharhabil area northeast of the city of Sidon witnessed a blaze from the side of the town of Alman, where the flames gutted an area covered with weeds, and firefighting crews from Sidon Municipality are working on extinguishing it,” the National News Agency reported.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called on PM-designate Saad Hariri not to marginalize the country’s Christians in the formation of the new government and in its policies.

“Rise above the conditions and counter-conditions of political groups and avoid the quagmire of interests and share splitting,” al-Rahi said, addressing Hariri, in his Sunday Mass sermon.

It has become certain that the political forces will name their ministers in the new government and that the principle of the rotation of portfolios has been dropped, media reports said.

“There is a near-final agreement on the Shiite share. The finance portfolio will go to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the health portfolio will remain with Hizbullah,” informed political sources told the Kuwaiti al-Jarida newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

The new government will likely be formed within two weeks and the move will positively affect the situations in Lebanon, including the dollar exchange rate, media reports said.

In remarks to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper published Sunday, sources close to President Michel Aoun said that the government “might be announced within two weeks or less,” noting that the parties have agreed that the line-up should not exceed 20 ministers.

Wildfires triggered by a heatwave unusual for this time of the year broke out in different Lebanese regions, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

In his latest report on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for "urgent reforms," an "end to corruption" and a “swift” formation of a government Lebanon, Asharq el-Awsat daily reported on Saturday.

Guterres warned in his 32nd semi-annual report that Hizbullah’s involvement in the Syrian war “poses risks to the stability of Lebanon and the region.” He urged “regional countries,” in reference to Iran, to "encourage" the transformation of Hizbullah into a "civil political party, and to disarm it.”