Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam has arrived at the Baabda Palace to discuss with President Joseph Aoun the composition of the next Lebanese government.

While the formation of the Cabinet seemed imminent Thursday, negotiations resumed after Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri insisted, on behalf of the Amal-Hezbollah tandem, on having a say in the choice of the fifth Shiite minister who is expected to obtain the Administrative Reform portfolio.

Earlier in the day, Aoun received the American envoy Morgan Ortagus. She stated from Baabda that Hezbollah should not be part of the Lebanese government and that the Shiite party's "reign of terror" in Lebanon and the world is over.