Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati has “put aside his ‘designate’ label and is currently using the caretaker PM label until he receives the phone call he was promised with two weeks ago by the presidential palace,” informed sources said.

“Two days have passed since the PM-designate returned from his vacation and the meeting (with President Michel Aoun) is yet to happen,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Wednesday used the title of the famous ‘Aal Asfouriyeh’ song by late Lebanese singer Sabah to hope that Lebanon will not reach the “lunatic asylum” stage.

Mikati voiced his remarks at the launch of the touristic Lebanon Summer Campaign at the Rafik Hariri International Airport.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said that the possibility of an imminent war with Israel is “not certain,” in connection with the current standoff over offshore gas fields.

“The historic moment to rescue Lebanon is in the hands of the resistance,” Nasrallah said overnight during his annual meeting with Ashoura sermon deliverers.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid flew over the Karish natural gas platform in the Mediterranean on Tuesday and was briefed by competent Israeli officials during the flight, his office said.

"Israel's natural gas reserves have the potential to contribute toward a solution for the global energy crisis. Lebanon could also benefit from developing the reserves in its economic waters, through negotiations, which should be concluded forthwith,” Lapid said.

The Israeli army on Tuesday denied that any of its drones had crashed into Lebanon in the past week, after a reporter of Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said an Israeli drone had crashed in the Lebanese region of al-Wazzani earlier in the day.

The al-Manar reporter also tweeted a picture of the small quadcopter.

General Security’s detention and lengthy interrogation of Lebanese Maronite archbishop Moussa El-Hage upon his return from Israel is a “message” to Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi over his “patriotic stances,” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said on Tuesday.

El-Hage is the Archbishop of the Archeparchy of Haifa and the Holy Land and the Patriarchal Exarch of Jerusalem and Palestine and Jordan. According to the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, he was detained at the Naqoura border crossing before being interrogated for eight hours.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Tuesday warned Lebanon’s leaders that “if they choose the path of fire,” they will be “severely burned,” while noting that the “path of stability” can help Lebanon’s citizens.

“I toured the northern border today with Prime Minister (Yair) Lapid. We conducted an operational situation assessment and dialogue with the senior commanders in the sector,” Gantz tweeted after touring the border with Lebanon.

Prime Minister designate Najib Mikati criticized Tuesday the "theatrical" raid carried out by Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on the Central Bank.

Aoun had entered the bank earlier on Tuesday, after a sate security patrol searching for Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh was not allowed to get in.

The Central Bank issued Tuesday a ruling that allows the payment through debit cards from fresh dollar accounts, starting July 25.

"The payments in fresh dollars will be made via the "Visa" and "MasterCard" companies," the Central Bank said in a statement, adding that the ruling will boost the economic activity.

Lebanon's state security forces raided Tuesday the residence of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh in Rabieh without managing to find him, media reports said.

The state security forces then headed to the Central Bank headquarters in Beirut to enforce a subpoena issued by Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun. Aoun arrived later to the Bank and entered it with a number of state security agents, as the patrol was not allowed to enter the bank by Beirut Public Prosecution Judge Raja Hamoush.