The new Lebanese government was formed on Friday, more than a year after the resignation of Hassan Diab’s cabinet and 45 days after Najib Miqati was tasked with putting together a new government.

President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Najib Miqati “have signed the decree of the new government’s formation in the presence of Speaker Nabih Berri,” the Presidency announced.

President Michel Aoun met Thursday with caretaker Minister of Energy Raymond Ghajar.

The latter briefed Aoun on the talks he held in The Amman meeting to import gas and electricity to Lebanon through Syria.

The new cabinet will be formed “within hours,” TV networks said on Friday.

“PM-designate (Najib) Miqati informed me minutes ago that things have literally been finalized and that the cabinet will be formed before or after the Friday prayer,” Lebanese journalist Abbas Daher told al-Jadeed TV Friday morning.

Lebanon's long-awaited ration card plan was launched Thursday by caretaker Economy Minister Raoul Nehme and caretaker Social Affairs Minister Ramzi Msharrafiyeh.

The past hours witnessed many political contacts but no positive progress was achieved concerning the government formation, sources said.

The Saudi and Nigerian interior ministries have thwarted an attempt by a network linked to Lebanon’s Hizbullah to smuggle 451,807 amphetamine tablets into Saudi Arabia, the Saudi ministry said on Thursday.

The security spokesman of the Saudi interior ministry, Colonel Talal al-Shalhoub, stated that the drug bust followed “proactive security follow-up of the activities of criminal networks that smuggle drugs into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

All the problems obstructing the government formation have been resolved, according to high-level sources in the Free Patriotic Movement.

The sources confirmed to al-Akhbar newspaper, in remarks published Thursday, that “there is no longer justification for delaying the government formation.”

President Michel Aoun has expressed “dismay” over the ongoing delay in the government formation process, while stressing his “determination” to reach a cabinet line-up despite “the obstacles and demands that arise every now and then.”

According to al-Intichar news portal, Aoun also told his visitors that communication between him and PM-designate Najib Miqati has not stopped, “whether directly or through mediators,” noting that he has “offered all the needed facilitations so that the government can be formed.”

A top Lebanese intelligence official said Wednesday the country would not deport six Syrians back to their war-torn homeland, after they were detained last month for smuggling themselves across the border.

The army reported on August 28 that it had arrested six Syrians for "entering Lebanon illegally" and had referred them to the General Security apparatus.

Energy ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon on Wednesday agreed a plan to bring gas and electricity to crisis-hit Lebanon at a meeting in Amman.

Egypt's minister for oil and mines Tarek al-Molla said that his country would "be ready to transfer gas (to Lebanon) as soon as possible" via the transnational Arab Gas Pipeline.