Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam met with President Joseph Aoun on Friday evening to brief him on the outcome of his non-binding consultations with lawmakers and his talks with Speaker Nabih Berri.

French President Emmanuel Macron held a bilateral meeting Friday at the Baabda Palace with Speaker Nabih Berri, the National News Agency said.

Contacts intensified over the past hours, through mediators between Baabda and Ain el-Tineh, in order to contain the dismay of Hezbollah and Speaker Nabih Berri, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Friday.

Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide MP Ali Hassan Khalil admitted overnight that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement did not discuss with President Joseph Aoun -- prior to his election -- the issue of who will be the country’s new premier.

Syria’s new security authorities on Friday seized a weapons shipment that was intended to be smuggled into Lebanon through illegal border crossings, Syria’s new authorities said.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called for accelerated implementation of a November ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

"There have been results... but they must be accelerated and long-lasting. There needs to be complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the Lebanese army must hold total monopoly of any weapons" in south Lebanon, he said at a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun, ahead of a January 26 deadline for the truce implementation.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday said he held a “promising” meeting with Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam.

Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port blast on Thursday, charging 10 people including security, customs and military personnel, a judicial official said.

The fresh charges come after a two-year hiatus in the investigation into the August 4, 2020 explosion that killed more than 220 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of Lebanon's capital.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Friday urged an end to Israel's "continued occupation" and "military operations" in south Lebanon, after a November ceasefire to end fighting between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.

"The continued occupation by the Israel (military) inside the UNIFIL area operations and the conduct of military operations in Lebanese territory are violations of resolution 1701... They must stop," he told members of the U.N. peacekeeping force as he visited them, referring to the U.N. Security Council decision that ended a 2006 war between both sides.

France's President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have given "their full support" to the formation of a "strong government" in Lebanon, the French presidency said.

The new government must "bring together Lebanon's diverse people, ensure the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is respected and carry out the reforms necessary for the prosperity, stability and sovereignty of the country", the presidency said Thursday.