Opposition lawmakers on Sunday nominated Jihad Azour, an International Monetary Fund regional director and former minister, for president.

MP Mark Daou of the Change bloc read a statement on behalf of 32 opposition legislators, endorsing Azour after weeks of negotiations "as a candidate that is not considered provocative by any political factor in the country." The lawmakers belong to the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb Party and the Tajaddod bloc in addition to several independent and Change MPs.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday said he welcomes “every step towards understanding and consensus over a president’s election,” as the opposition prepares to declare the name of its presidential candidate.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has announced that the FPM has “intersected” with the opposition over Jihad Azour’s nomination, while noting that “this intersection is important but not enough for the election of a president.”

Lebanon's foreign ministry has said it would send an investigation team to Paris following reports that Beirut's ambassador to France, Rami Adwan, has been accused of rape and intentional violence.

A son of Libya's late leader Moammar Gadhafi, who has been held in Lebanon for more than seven years, began a hunger strike Saturday to protest his detention without trial, his lawyer said.

Hannibal Gadhafi has been held in Lebanon since 2015 after he was kidnapped from neighboring Syria where he had been living as a political refugee. He was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information about the fate of prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr who went missing in Libya 45 years ago.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he will “immediately” call for a presidential election session once Jihad Azour’s nomination becomes “serious.”

Lebanon's ambassador to France, Rami Adwan, has been investigated for rape and intentional violence following complaints by two former embassy employees, informed sources said, confirming an earlier media report.

A Hezbollah official said Friday there was "no justification" for linking the group to an Irish peacekeeper's killing, a day after a judicial official accused five militants of last year's attack.

Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others were injured on December 14 when their U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the southern coastal village of al-Aqbiyeh.

Presidential candidate Jihad Azour held separate Zoom meetings overnight with a number of Change MPs, media reports said.

“The MPs asked him about his stance on the October 17 uprising and how he would deal with the sovereign issues, Hezbollah’s arms, the judicial files, the probe in the Beirut port blast case, the recovery plan and other matters,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Friday.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has mockingly said that "he can't sleep at night", as he downplayed U.S. sanction threats.

"They think they can intimidate me," Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Friday.