BEIRUT, (Reuters) - By Tom Perry & Nafisa Eltahir -- - President Michel Aoun said he hoped a new Lebanese government would be formed within the next couple days, as efforts to agree one were spurred on by a fuel crisis that has brought much of the country to a standstill and sparked warnings of anarchy. The steadily worsening fuel crisis has marked a crunch point in Lebanon's two-year-long financial meltdown, with shortages of imported fuel forcing hospitals, bakeries and businesses to scale back or shut down in the last week or so. read more At least 28 people were killed over the weekend when a fuel tanker exploded as people desperate for gasoline scrambled to get a share. read more After meeting Aoun, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said it was still possible for a government to be formed in the next two days. The issues were being tackled one-by-one, he said, though he did not know how the last would be resolved.

Ahead of his meeting with Mikati, Aoun indicated a deal was close, saying "we are about to form a government", specifying later it would be "within a couple days, God willing". A senior political source told Reuters the government talks were evolving positively although some issues remained to be tackled, mainly the names of ministers. Explaining the impetus, the source added: "The whole situation is deteriorating, the whole system is collapsing." Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the heavily armed, Iran-backed Shi'ite group Hezbollah, on Sunday urged the government to be formed in two or three days, saying this was the only way to prevent anarchy which had already begun. He also said Hezbollah would begin bringing diesel and gasoline from Iran with delivery dates to be announced soon.

ان جهنم التليل بالاضافة الى حوادث هذا الشهر الخطيرة، من خلدة الى تبادل الرسائل النارية مع العدو الى تعريض المواطن للاذلال، تكفي …

by reuters -- ‘Nobody’s running the country’ said Lebanon’s central bank governor Riad Salameh complained on Saturday decrying the chaos and violence that are spreading right across the nation. At the American University of Beirut Medical Center, lack of electrical power risks putting 40 patients, including fifteen children, to death. The hospital is threatened with a forced shutdown as early as Monday because of shortages of fuel used to generate electricity. “This means that ventilators and other lifesaving medical devices will cease to operate. Forty adult patients and fifteen children living on respirators will die immediately,” the hospital said. The lack of fuel is due to the inability of the central bank to continue to subsidise fuel imports.

In an interview broadcast on Saturday, Riad Salameh said the government could resolve the problem quickly by passing necessary legislation. He denied he had acted alone in declaring an end to the subsidies on Wednesday, and said it was widely known that the decision was coming. The worsening fuel crisis is part of Lebanon’s wider financial meltdown. Hospitals, bakeries and many businesses are scaling back operations or shutting down as fuel runs dry. Deadly violence has flared in fuel lines, protesters have blocked roads, and fuel tankers have been hijacked this week. The American University of Beirut Medical Center said it was threatened with a forced shutdown as early as Monday because of shortages of fuel used to generate electricity. “This means that ventilators and other lifesaving medical devices will cease to operate. Forty adult patients and fifteen children living on respirators will die immediately,” the hospital said.

A man with severe burn injuries sustained in the fuel tank explosion is carried on a stretcher from a helicopter after being transported for treatment at the severe burns unit of the Geitaoui hospital in Beirut yesterday. (AFP)

by reuters -- At least 28 people were killed and 79 injured when a fuel tank exploded in northern Lebanon early yesterday, the health ministry said. Military and security sources said that the army had seized a fuel storage tank hidden by black marketeers and was handing out gasoline to residents when the explosion occurred. Lebanon is suffering from a severe fuel shortage, leading to long lines at gas stations and extended blackouts. Accounts varied as to what caused the explosion, from gunfire that hit a tank of gasoline to reports that it was caused by a person who ignited a lighter.

Protesters, already angry at the economic crisis in the country, put the blame squarely on Lebanon’s politicians as they demonstrated outside the prime minister’s residency and hurled rocks at the building. “Akkar was put on fire by its deputies in parliament,” protesters sprayed on the building, referring to one of Lebanon’s poorest areas, where the explosion occurred. Abdelrahman, whose face and body was covered in gauze as he laid in Tripoli’s al-Salam hospital, was one of those in line to get gasoline. “There were hundreds gathered there, right next to the tank, and God only knows what happened to them,” he said. Witnesses said about 200 people were nearby at the time of the explosion. Army and security forces personnel were among the casualties, sources said.