Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea accused Monday Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement of dragging Lebanon into a growing crisis.

"Hezbollah doesn't believe in a state or belong to it, yet it wants to lay hold of the state to drain it and use it to serve its project," Geagea said.

The Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee on Monday approved a law for establishing a Lebanese oil and gas sovereign fund.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari has met for two and a half hours with ex-PSP leader Walid Jumblat and MP Taymour Jumblat.

The central bank chief of crisis-torn Lebanon, Riad Salameh, who is wanted for alleged financial crimes in several European countries, handed over his post Monday with no designated successor in place.

First vice-governor Wassim Mansouri, who will temporarily take over, warned that "we are at a crossroad" and urged politicians to implement reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund in return for a bail-out loan.

Clashes renewed Sunday in the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon between the secular Fatah Movement and hardline Islamist groups.

TV networks said the fighting resumed after a senior Fatah commander was killed in an ambush.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday wondered why parliament does not "convene in successive sessions to elect a president in line with Article 49 of the constitution."

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said overnight that he is "willing to sacrifice" regarding the next president's identity, clarifying that he will not "sacrifice the presidential post or powers."

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has stepped up his attacks against the LGBTQ communities in Lebanon and the region.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday warned Israel against committing any “mistake or foolishness,” as he said that his party’s dialogue with the Free Patriotic Movement might lead to a presidential breakthrough.

Higher Islamic Shiite Council deputy head Sheikh Ali al-Khatib on Friday said he rejects that the “Shiite vice governor” of the Central Bank assume Riad Salameh’s duties after the latter’s departure on July 31.