Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said during an Iftar held by al-Mustaqbal Movement on Sunday in Beirut that the world is waiting for the implementation of reforms in Lebanon which eventually fall in country’s interest.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed that forming the Cabinet sooner than Eid al-Fitr falls in the country’s favor in light of the “massive challenges and crises facing Lebanon and the economic situation,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

A controversial naturalization decree granting Lebanese citizenship to foreigners has reportedly been “blamed on Free Patriotic Movement Jebran Bassil and former head of the premier’s office Nader Hariri,” the Kuwaiti Asseyasah daily reported Sunday.

Syria has amended a controversial property law criticized by several Lebanese officials as “hindering the return of 1.5 million Syrian refugees who have sought refuge in Lebanon.”

Syria amended the law to allow people a year instead of a month to prove ownership of land seized for development, the foreign minister said Saturday.

Democratic Gathering bloc MP Wael Abou Faour criticized on Saturday a decree reportedly signed by President Michel Aoun granting Lebanese citizenship to foreigners and Syrian businessmen.

Lebanon’s new government to be formed by PM-designate Saad Hariri will not “isolate” any political party, amid assurances that any obstacle threatening the formation process will be “overcome,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Sources of President Michel Aoun said: “The new government will not isolate anyone,” noting that the “Lebanese Forces are not targeted at all,” and that their concerns have been addressed during a meeting between the President and LF chief Samir Geagea.

A Gulf official said in remarks he made to the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily on Saturday that the results of the parliamentary elections in Lebanon represented a “significant decline in favor of Hizbullah,” and that the party has “strengthened” its presence in the country’s state institutions.

MP Jamil al-Sayyed is set to stand as witness before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the assassination case of ex-PM Rafik Hariri and companions, Naharnet sources said on Friday.

According to the sources, former General Security head Sayyed will stand before the tribunal on June 5, 6 and 7.

Ex-minister and Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi criticized reports that Lebanon has issued a naturalization decree granting citizenship to foreigners saying “Lebanese citizenship is not for sale.”

A man has been found dead with gunshot wounds on the sidewalk outside Dbayeh’s marina, the National News Agency reported on Friday.