Some parties have launched a mediation between Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil after the latter criticized the Speaker’s call for dialogue, a media report said.

UNRWA continues to respond to urgent needs of displaced families forced to flee the Ain el-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, the largest in the country, a statement said. UNRWA is currently hosting 800 people in four of its shelters.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has accused Christian forces of obstructing the implementation of reforms demanded by the international community and the International Monetary Fund.

In an interview published Wednesday in Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Mikati said that Christian political forces are boycotting legislative sessions and do not want Parliament to convene to pass the required reforms before a president is elected, while Hezbollah is "cooperating" and supports the majority of the required reforms.

The Free Patriotic Movement on Wednesday said it welcomes dialogue aimed at electing a new president on the condition that it be “limited to the issue of presidential elections and the president’s program and characteristics.”

Disagreements between the U.S. and France in the five-nation committee on Lebanon prevented the issuance of a statement after a meeting called for by Paris at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad said overnight.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday reiterated his rejection of dialogue over the presidential file, calling on Speaker Nabih Berri to immediately call for “an open session with multiple rounds to elect a president.”

Qatari Ambassador to Lebanon Sheikh Saud bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani met Tuesday in Yarze with Army Commander General Joseph Aoun.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has reiterated his call for parliament to “hold successive sessions, according to the constitution and without blocking quorum, in order to elect a president.”

A Qatari envoy that had been scheduled to arrive in Beirut this week to discuss the presidential file has postponed his visit to early October, media reports said.

Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab has advised “those promoting presidential candidates abroad” not to support “a candidate whose election would violate the constitution, such as Army chief Joseph Aoun.”