Speaker Nabih Berri said that his efforts regarding the government formation are at a standstill, denying reports saying that he agreed with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat to halt consultations over the matter.

“I haven't contacted Jumblat regarding the matter. According to my information everything is still the same,” Berri said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.

Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour and son of Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat, Taymour, returned to Lebanon on Monday after a trip to Saudi Arabia that lasted several days, reported the National News Agency.

It revealed that they had held talks in the kingdom with head of Saudi Intelligence Prince Bandar bin Sultan on the situation in Lebanon and the region.

Progressive Socialist Party Chief MP Walid Jumblat called on Sunday for a national unity cabinet, rejecting attempts to divide security agencies on sectarian basis.

“A national unity cabinet should be formed as the ongoing vacuum disables attempts to resolves crises and halts the economy and people's living,” Former PSP's secretary Sharif Fayyad said quoting Jumblat at a press conference.

Envoys of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, his son Taymour and caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour, may have completed their trip to Saudi Arabia on Friday after a visit that started on Monday amid limited information about the details of their talks with officials in the kingdom, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper.

It reported that the envoys may have not been able to meet any Saudi officials until Thursday seeing as the kingdom has been focused on regional developments instead of the ones in Lebanon.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat accused Israel of being behind Thursday's blast that rocked Beirut's southern suburb.

"I accuse Israel of being behind the explosion in Dahieh,” Jumblat told LBCI television shortly after the blast, calling on the state's bodies to “consolidate and intensify their work.”

Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour and son of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, Taymour, arrived in Riyadh to hold consultations with a number of Saudi officials who are following up on the situation in Lebanon, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Wednesday.

Informed sources told the daily that the two officials will not meet former Premier Saad Hariri, who has been in Sardinia since the end of the Eid al-Fitr holiday over the weekend.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat delegated his son Taymour and caretaker minister Wael Abou Faour to Saudi Arabia for talks with al-Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri on efforts to help line up the cabinet, the As Safir daily reported on Tuesday.

Abou Faour, Caretaker Minister of Social Affairs, and Taymour Jumblat arrived in Jeddah Monday evening for talks with ex-PM Hariri, the newspaper said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat condemned on Monday the abduction of two Turkish pilots in Lebanon on Friday, contrasting the successful release of Iranians held in Syria in the past to the current deadlock over the release of the abducted Lebanese pilgrims.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “The failure to release the Lebanese captives demonstrates some regional countries' lack of interest in their allies in favor for their own.”

Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad revealed on Friday that it was premature to form the new government and criticized Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat for making a proposal whose success is not guaranteed

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5), Raad said a proposal to form a de facto government had been suggested by Premier-designate Tammam Salam since he was tasked with forming the cabinet.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam shied away from lauding Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat's latest stances, which he said have always changed the balance of power in Lebanon.

Jumblat's latest remarks “draw attention,” Salam told As Safir newspaper published on Thursday.