Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who was expecting a harsher attack from President Michel Aoun, had asked his officials not to hit back, Amal sources said.

The sources told al-Akhbar newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday, that Berri “prohibited” all officials in his movement from “starting arguments” with the Free Patriotic Movement, in response to Aoun’s speech.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Tuesday that his government's talks with the International Monetary Fund are inching closer to a "final formula" for a draft on an agreement before the end of February.

Najib Mikati said the Cabinet was doing "its homework" ahead of talks with the IMF in mid-January. An IMF delegation will visit Lebanon again in late January or early February to lay out "the final formula for the agreement with them and then we will announce to the Lebanese where we stand," Miqati said.

A blast rocked the outskirts of the Baalbek town of al-Nabi Sheet in Lebanon’s Eastern Mountain Range on Tuesday.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the explosion resulted from the detonation of leftover ammunition near the Lebanese-Syrian border.

What softened an expected “explosive” presidential speech is a meeting that took place late Sunday between Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and Hizbullah coordination official Wafiq Safa, sources said.

Informed sources told the PSP's al-Anbaa news portal, in remarks published Tuesday, that the meeting, that lasted till Monday morning, made President Michel Aoun’s criticism less harsh.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Tuesday that he has signed a decree calling for parliamentary elections to be held in May and has referred it to President Michel Aoun.

"I believe that the President will sign it too," Miqati added, at a press conference.

Hizbullah on Monday dismissed as "ridiculous" Saudi charges that it aids Yemen's Huthi rebels in launching strikes against the kingdom.

On Sunday, the spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Huthi rebels were "militarizing" Sanaa airport and using it as a "main center for launching ballistic missiles and drones" towards the kingdom, with help from Iran and Hizbullah.

President Michel Aoun on Monday criticized Hizbullah and the Amal Movement without naming them as he called for “urgent” national dialogue over key matters.

Defense Minister Maurice Slim has left Beirut for Baghdad on an official visit to meet Iraqi officials.

Slim will hold talks Tuesday with his Iraqi counterpart Juma Inad at the defense ministry in Baghdad.

Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi on Monday signed a decree calling for parliamentary elections to be held in May 2022.

According to the decree, expats will cast their votes abroad on May 6 and May 8.

Free Patriotic Movement MP Alain Aoun said that any step that President Michel Aoun might take today “shouldn’t be considered as an escalation but would rather be for the benefit of the Lebanese.”

“The President’s stance, at its core, is not to take part in the (government’s) obstruction,” Aoun said, asking what would be more alarming, “to escalate or to remain in the situation we are in?”