French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Tuesday urged the "speedy election" of a president in Lebanon and the formation of a new government to "carry out badly needed reforms."

Lebanon's cabinet is acting in a caretaker capacity, and the country has been without a head of state for more than a month.

The Israeli army on Tuesday said it downed a small suspected Hezbollah drone as it crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel.

“Troops identified and downed a drone crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory a short while ago,” the Israeli army said on its English-language Twitter account, adding that the drone “most likely” belongs to Hezbollah.

Opposition presidential candidate MP Michel Mouawad on Tuesday denied that he is “communicating with Hezbollah.”

“Some known and tendentious parties are trying to fabricate reports about communication that I’m carrying out with Hezbollah, claiming that I’m keen to keep my meetings confidential,” Mouawad tweeted.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari on Tuesday held talks in Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, the state-run National News Agency said.

“Bukhari stressed the need to hold the presidential election as soon as possible and to form a government that would be in harmony with the president in order to revive the country,” Bkirki sources told LBCI television.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati revealed Monday that foreign countries are “preparing” a solution for the Lebanese presidential crisis.

“Yes, according to foreign information, there is something that is being prepared to resolve the crisis, but things need time,” Mikati said in response to a question, during a meeting with a delegation from the Press Editors Syndicate.

Twenty-six inmates escaped at dawn Monday from the Jeb Jannine prison in West Bekaa, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The agency added that most of the escapees were jailed over drug trading and arms-related offenses.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday hit out at Hezbollah without naming it over two recent issues.

It was agreed in the cosultative ministerial meeting that was held Friday at the Grand Serail to form a ministerial panel in an attempt to heal the rift between the government's quarreling camps, media reports said.

Hezbollah is keen on its 2006 memorandum of understanding with its ally the Free Patriotic Movement and "will not withdraw" from it "unless the FPM wants so," Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said.

The evidence suggests the involvement of two shooters in the deadly attack on UNIFIL near al-Aqbiyeh and security forces are now seeking the arrest of the two suspects, a Lebanese judicial source said.