Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi condemned on Wednesday the recent remarks of Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad against Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri, urging him against adopting “intimidation” tactics.

He said via Twitter: “Neither you, nor your armed party can decide who has a place in Lebanon or not.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi condemned on Wednesday the ongoing vacuum in the presidency.

He said: “Officials should cease relying of foreign powers and instead focus on the election of a new head of state.”

The Kataeb Party and Hizbullah are exerting efforts to hold a new round of talk between them, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Wednesday.

Informed sources told the daily that the date for the new round will be discussed on Thursday on the margins of the presidential elections session.

Efforts to resolve the vacuum in the presidency have reached a standstill given the flare up of regional tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, reported As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.

March 8 camp sources told the daily: “Contacts, most notably those on the presidency, are frozen until a breakthrough is reached between Riyadh and Tehran.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is awaiting the results of various political efforts to hold a cabinet session ahead of actually calling it convene, reported As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.

He told the daily that he “may” call the cabinet to convene next week.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday described a verbal attack by Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad against Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri as a “return to the rhetoric of 'black shirts' and the May 7 coup.”

“The statements of its officials have once again revealed that Hizbullah is not only seeking to torpedo any internal settlement but also to prevent the election of a new president and paralyze the work of Lebanon's constitutional institutions with an ultimate goal of ending its democratic formula,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Tuesday instructed Lebanon's diplomats to inform the U.N. Security Council of Israel's violations of Lebanese sovereignty in the year 2015, state-run National News Agency reported.

The report that will be submitted includes details about 1,168 land, aerial and maritime breaches of Lebanese sovereignty.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq warned Tuesday that the “regional cover” that “protected Lebanon in the past four years” has started to “diminish,” as he reassured that a “communication” momentum triggered by ex-PM Saad Hariri's latest initiative “will not stop.”

“The regional situation is much worse than we were estimating,” Mashnouq said after a greetings visit to Maronite Archbishop of Beirut Boulos Matar in Ashrafieh.

The two firms that agreed to export Lebanon's trash are said to close the deal with the Lebanese government by the end of the current week after presenting a guarantee of $2.5 million each, al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday.

“The preliminary contracts with Britain’s Chinook Urban Mining International and Holland’s Howa BV to export the waste will be signed before the end of the week,” said the daily.

The tensions that erupted between Hizbullah and Israel on Monday will not lead to a major conflict between the two sides, assured security sources to al-Joumhouria newspaper on Tuesday.

Sources close to the party added however that “once Hizbullah vows that it will retaliate to an Israeli assault, then it will fulfill it.”