Firas Abiad, director general of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, expressed extreme worry on Saturday after announcing the death of an 18-year-old man of coronavirus.

“I could not sleep well last night. Shocking were the number of coronavirus cases. The increase in the number of new cases was expected, albeit not at this rate,” said Abiad in a tweet.

President Michel Aoun is concerned in making the French initiative succeed and is also determined to reject “sectarianism” in the distribution of ministerial portfolios “including the finance ministry”, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Saturday.

Mohammed Sufian did not dream of much: a job, food on the table, the chance to buy his 2½-year-old son the little things a toddler wants.

So when he heard that smugglers were taking people from his hometown of Tripoli to the nearby Mediterranean island of Cyprus, he decided to take the chance with his pregnant wife and child. To pay their way, he sold his furniture and two of his sister's bracelets.

Lebanon on Friday reported record daily coronavirus deaths and cases according to a statement issued by the Health Ministry.

The Ministry said the small country witnessed 18 deaths and 750 new virus cases over the past 24 hours.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Friday issued warnings to the feuding political camps that are bickering over the finance ministerial portfolio.

“Very soon, the advocates of the old pact and the advocates of the new norm will realize that there is no money at the treasury,” Jumblat tweeted, apparently referring to a grouping of Sunni ex-PMs and to the country’s two biggest Shiite parties -- Hizbullah and Amal.

The army on Friday announced that it has disposed of 1,320 kilograms of fireworks found by its units at a Beirut port hangar during an ongoing inspection process.

“As part of the inspection works that army units are carrying out at Beirut port, 1,320 kilograms of fireworks were found packed in 120 cartons at one of the hangars,” an army statement said.

MP Ali Bazzi of Speaker Nabih Berri's Development and Liberation bloc on Friday described ex-PMs Saad Hariri, Najib Miqati, Fouad Saniora and Tammam Salam as "the shadow PMs," accusing them of seeking to "isolate" an "entire sect."

In addition to his phone talks with President Michel Aoun on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron has also called Speaker Nabih Berri and ex-PM Saad Hariri, MTV said on Friday.

“France has no intention to freeze its initiative, which is not confined to a deadline that expires on Sunday, as previously rumored,” MTV quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said the French initiative was not launched to solve Lebanon’s multiple crises, but came to alleviate the suffering and burden of the Lebanese people.

A prominent Lebanese footballer has died of a bullet wound sustained last month during a funeral for one of the victims of the Beirut port blast, his club said Friday.

Mohamed Atwi, 32, played as a midfielder for a number of Lebanese clubs and won the national league three times with Beirut's Ansar, his club for almost a decade.