Lebanon's banks will remain closed indefinitely after rejecting a proposed government security plan, a senior official with the country's commercial banks association said on Thursday, amid a wave of protests and heists targeting its failing financial system.

The Association of Banks in Lebanon initially announced a three-day strike, after at least seven bank branches were stormed last week, where assailants demanded they withdraw their trapped savings. Among them is Sali Hafez, who broke into a Beirut bank branch with a fake pistol and retrieved some $13,000 in her savings to cover her sister's cancer treatment.

A state of anger was on Thursday engulfing the impoverished neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh in Tripoli, after a boat carrying 55 illegal migrants went missing while en route to Italy, al-Jadeed TV reported.

“The residents are urging Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to intervene to unveil their fate,” al-Jadeed added.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein is working on an amended draft for the demarcation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel and is supposed to finalize it within a week, al-Manar TV said.

The mediator had “postponed sending the draft after Lebanon rejected its old format,” the TV network added, quoting informed sources.

The formation of the new government has become imminent and the line-up will be officially announced next week at the latest, a media report said on Thursday.

“The cabinet format needs some final touches that are awaiting PM-designate Najib Mikati’s return from New York,” al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted informed sources as saying.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Thursday stressed to the U.N. General Assembly “the commitment of Lebanon to the implementation of all the stipulations of Resolution 1701 and all international legitimacy resolutions.”

Turning to the issue of sea border demarcation with Israel, Mikati hailed the U.S. mediation in the file and emphasized Lebanon’s “ultimate adherence to its sovereignty, rights and resources in its territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone.”

Representatives from the United States, France, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have met to discuss Lebanon on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

“Our three countries expressed their continuing support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and stability. As Lebanon’s Parliament prepares to elect a new President, we stress the importance of timely elections in compliance with the constitution. It is critical to elect a President who can unite the Lebanese people and work with regional and international actors to overcome the current crisis,” ministers from the three countries said in a joint statement.

Young people across Lebanon are creatively giving voice to complex situations by decrying government failures through art.

Lebanese fine arts student Ali Merhi is finishing his degree as his country endures its worst-ever economic crisis, with unemployment around 30 percent, the local currency in free fall, and faltering electricity and water supplies.

The International Monetary Fund has said the Lebanese government's slowness to implement desperately-needed reforms was exacerbating the country's economic meltdown, even as officials met to discuss an urgent and long-delayed bailout.

The IMF statement followed a three-day visit to Beirut of the fund's representatives to discuss with Lebanese officials the implementation of reforms drawn up under a staff-level agreement between the two sides in April.

Former minister Saleh al-Gharib, who is close to Lebanese Democratic Party leader ex-MP Talal Arslan, said Wednesday that no one has discussed with him the issue of being appointed as a minister in the new government.

“I don’t intend to assume any ministerial portfolio at the moment,” Gharib told al-Jadeed TV, dismissing media reports in this regard.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) held on Wednesday a ceremony to commemorate the International Day of Peace at its headquarters in Naqoura, South Lebanon.