A Lebanese Forces lawmaker on Wednesday denied that his party is seeking a return to civil war.

Thirty one opposition MPs said Wednesday, in a joint statement, that it has become clear that "any dialogue with Hezbollah would be futile", a day after Parliament received two questions from the French embassy regarding the required qualifications of the future president.

French special presidential envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian is scheduled to return to Lebanon in September after he had proposed on his last visit to Lebanon to invite all those taking part in the process of electing a president to a meeting in September to achieve a consensus on the challenges and on the priority projects the future president will have to carry out, and consequently the qualities necessary for tackling them.

The drilling rig Transocean Barents arrived Wednesday morning in Block 9 offshore Lebanon and will start operations in the coming weeks to search for gas, caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamiyah said.

French firm TotalEnergies, in agreement with its partners Eni and QatarEnergy, had signed a contract to begin drilling and exploring for gas in late August in waters off crisis-hit Lebanon.

Parliament has received an envelope from the French embassy in Beirut, MTV reported on Tuesday.

The envelope contained requests that MPs “answer questions regarding their stances on the presidential file before the end of September,” the TV network said.

Lebanon's interim central bank governor Wassim Mansouri on Monday froze the accounts of the bank's embattled former chief and close relatives and associates days after the United States, United Kingdom and Canada slapped sanctions on them.

Mansouri's decision was made public following a meeting of the central bank's Special Investigation Commission. The commission is in charge of fighting money laundering and terrorism financing. It named former Gov. Riad Salameh, his son Nady, brother Raja, close associate Marianne Hoayek and former partner Anna Kosakova.

Libya's judicial authorities have formally asked Lebanon to release one of the late dictator Moammar Gadhafi's sons, held without charges in Lebanon since 2015 because of his deteriorating health, officials said Monday.

The health of Hannibal Gadhafi has been deteriorating since he went on hunger strike on June 3, to protest his detention without trial. He was taken to hospital at least twice since then and has been only drinking small amounts of water.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday blamed MTV, without naming it, for the deadly clash in the town of Kahale, as he warned that some political leaders and forces are “pushing the country to explosion and civil war.”

“A known TV station sounded the alarm and incited the people after which a number of young men arrived and some brought weapons,” Nasrallah said in a televised address marking the end of the 2006 war with Israel.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday said that it is “totally out of the question” for Christians to take up arms again, lauding the army’s “performance” in the town of Kahale despite “some reservations.”

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil announced Monday that the FPM leadership elections will be held on September 10.

The Hezbollah ammunition truck that overturned Wednesday in Kahale was headed for the clashes-hit Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh near Sidon, Palestinian sources said.