Lebanon will soon launch an international tender for the construction of a new terminal at the country's only international airport in Beirut, caretaker Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh said Wednesday, with hopes of accommodating a projected rise in visitors.

The airport had a major facelift after the country's 1975-90 civil war, and has been working at full capacity for years as the government's expansion plans have been repeatedly delayed.

President Michel Aoun intends to call for the binding parliamentary consultations to name a new premier on Thursday or Friday while the consultations will be held next week, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The President will call for the consultations after “completing the deliberations that he is conducting away from the spotlight with a number of political leaders and forces,” the daily added.

Rescue teams scrambled to douse a massive blaze in Lebanon's largest pine forest on Wednesday that authorities said could be deliberate, as the country braced for another summer of fires.

The fire in the northern Dinniyeh region broke out on Tuesday night, prompting the army and volunteer firefighters to intervene to try to salvage one of the Middle East's lushest pine forests.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati arrived Wednesday at Beirut's airport for an inspection tour ahead of a promising tourist season.

Miqati was accompanied by the caretaker ministers of public works, tourism, industry and interior.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Energean Power floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel has not yet entered the offshore area disputed by Lebanon, informed sources said.

“It is still three miles south of Line 29, on the Israeli side of the economic zone,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged Wednesday for forming a new government quickly.

"I am praying for a government to be formed as soon as possible so that it can start accomplishing its duties as an executive authority," al-Rahi said.

Former head of the Army delegation to border negotiations Bassam Yassin said Wednesday that another ship is currently active near Line 29.

Yassin urged authorities to immediately amend Decree 6433, as he criticized them for "acting surprised" when it comes to the Israeli violations. "They know about what is happening from the media," Yassin said.

The U.N.-Habitat has announced a closing event on Friday to mark the completion of its implemented project in Maraach, Bourj Hammoud.

"Under the scope of two complementary projects, one entitled 'Improving the well-being of host and refugee populations in Maraach sub-neighborhood in Bourj Hammoud' funded by Polish Aid and the second entitled 'Support for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of most vulnerable urban areas in Beirut impacted by the port explosion' funded by the Embassy of Japan in Lebanon, and to mark the completion of this project, an official Closing Event is planned," U.N.-Habitat said in a statement.

Head of the Israeli Army Northern Command Amir Baram has threatened Hizbullah for "intensifying its military infrastructure near the border with Israel."

Amid rising tensions after Israel sent a rig at a disputed gas field, Baram said that Hizbullah will "pay the price" for intensifying its posts' construction along the border and that "all the infrastructure" will be destroyed and "reduced to nothing" by the Israeli army.

The so-called ‘change MPs’, or the lawmakers who emerged from the October 17 uprising, on Tuesday imposed elections – rather than the traditional consensus – in choosing the members of the parliamentary committees.

The election of the members of the finance and justice committees took a lot of time, the National News Agency said, as Speaker Nabih Berri decried the absence of “consensus.”