Speaker Nabih Berri’s suggestion to postpone Beirut’s Economic Social Development Summit until Lebanon’s government is formed is “because there is an effort to bring Syria back to the Arab League,” the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Thursday.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri chaired an "expanded" ministerial meeting at the Center House on Thursday to discuss the damages and compensation following a storm that pummeled Lebanon for five consecutive days.

MP Ali Bazzi told reporters on Wednesday that Speaker Nabih Berri prefers the postponement of the imminent Arab economic summit in Beirut until the new government is formed, the National News Agency reported.

Caretaker Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury on Wednesday issued a decree adding the building of the Lycée Abdel Kader school in Beirut’s Msaitbeh area to Lebanon’s list of traditional buildings.

The decree protects the building against any demolition or restructuring plans, following a flurry of reports in recent months suggesting that the school will be turned into a shopping mall.

President Michel Aoun emphasized on Wednesday that Lebanon has borne the burden of the consequences of neighboring wars and the influx of Syria refugees, lamenting the “unclear” position of the international community vis-à-vis the refugees' return to their homeland.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rahi reportedly plans to schedule a meeting with “Maronite” leaders in a bid to reflect his “anger” at the delayed efforts to form a new government, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

A scenario weighing the possibility of “ties overtures” between Lebanon’s PM-designate Saad Hariri (of al-Mustaqbal Movement) and Syria seems “science fiction” to some, but those familiar with the regional shifts believe it has become “realistic,” and that the “zero hour is not far off,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

Heavy rains and snow wrecked several informal settlements housing Syrian refugees in Lebanon and left thousands in need of emergency assistance, aid workers said on Tuesday, as a toddler girl was reported missing.

Parts of Lebanon's public and private sectors have gone on strike called for by the country's labor unions to protest worsening economic conditions and months of delay in the formation of a new government.

Friday's strike was called for this week by the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers, with the backing of the new cross-sectarian Sabaa Party. The veteran Progressive Socialist Party and Kataeb Party have also voiced support for the move.

Caretaker Minister of Education, Marwan Hamadeh, said that external and internal factors were hindering the formation of a new government, calling for a compromise just after the New Year, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.