Protesters angry with Lebanon's ruling class blocked major roads leading to the capital Monday, causing traffic jams and prompting the head of the country's hospital union to warn they were preventing oxygen supplies from reaching medical centers treating coronavirus patients.

The country is in the grips of its worst economic crisis in decades, compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

Pope Francis has promised that his next foreign trip will be to crisis-hit Lebanon, shortly after he wrapped up a historic visit to Iraq.

“Lebanon is a message… Lebanon is suffering,” the pontiff added in an in-flight press conference, vowing to visit the country as soon as possible.

President Michel Aoun commented on dayslong protests against the dire living conditions in Lebanon, saying that road blockades are acts of “sabotage.”

President Michel Aoun chaired a meeting at Baabda Palace to tackle the security, economic and monetary situation in the country, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun is expected to make an “important” position Monday, during a meeting with military officials in light of the dire economic and security conditions in the country, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported.

The Army chief will hold a meeting today with leaders and officers to discuss matters related to the army’s situation at this critical stage, said the daily. He will make an “important” stance based on the events taking place in the country, and the increasing challenges as a result of the economic conditions, it added.

Protesters early on Monday blocked roads again across Lebanon protesting the dire living conditions and the country's political paralysis after the Lebanese pound hit record lows on the black market.

In Beirut, protesters blocked the main Corniche al-Mazraa road, Cola roundabout, Downtown Beirut.

Lebanese demonstrators pressed on with their road-blocking protests on Sunday as the political stalemate continued in the country.

In Beirut, protesters blocked the roads leading to Martyrs Square with burning tires.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday lashed out at politicians over what he called the “intentional delay” in forming the new government, as he noted that the popular protests that are engulfing the country are totally justified.

Warning in his Sunday Mass sermon of “a period of lethal challenges that can destroy the country, the people and the entity,” al-Rahi accused politicians of wasting the people’s “money and hope” and creating a state of poverty, hunger and unemployment.

Hizbullah does not intend to press President Michel Aoun over the stalled new government and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s proposal for resolving the crisis is unfeasible, Arab and foreign diplomatic sources said.

“Hizbullah is appeasing President Aoun to the max, not only to preserve their strategic alliance, but also to delay the government’s formation for considerations related to enabling Iran to hold cards in the region,” the sources told Saudi Arabia’s Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

Hizbullah and the Amal Movement overnight issued a joint statement denying their involvement in “acts of rioting” that took place in Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area also known as Dahiyeh.

“Some social media activists have circulated that supporters of parties in the southern suburbs have carried out road-blocking and sabotage acts in some Dahiyeh areas, especially at the al-Imam al-Hussein Roundabout in al-Kafaat,” the statement said.