The US envoy to Lebanon said on Monday that Lebanese Christian politician Gebran Bassil, who has been sanctioned by the United States, had voiced willingness to sever ties with Hezbollah, challenging his assertion that he rejected the idea outright.

Washington on Friday blacklisted Bassil, son-in-law of Lebanon's president and leader of its biggest Christian bloc, over charges of corruption and ties with the Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah, which Washington deems a terrorist group.

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Bassil slammed the sanctions as unjust and politically motivated, saying they were imposed after he refused to submit to a US demand to break ties with Hezbollah as that would risk Lebanon's national unity and peace.

US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said in a video aired by local broadcasters that Bassil, in exchanges with her, had "expressed willingness to break with Hezbollah, on certain conditions.

"He actually expressed gratitude that the United States had gotten him to see how the relationship is disadvantageous to the party," said Shea, without elaborating on the conditions.

Bassil's office issued a statement saying Shea's comments aimed to "drive a wedge" between his Free Patriotic Movement party and Hezbollah, but that the attempt would not work.

He, along with an array of the political elite, have been the target of protests since October 2019 against widely perceived corruption, waste and mismanagement of state funds.

Bassil denied corruption charges and said he would fight the sanctions in US courts and sue for damages. President Michel Aoun said Lebanon would seek evidence from Washington.

"We endeavor to make as much information publicly available as possible when announcing designations, but, as is often the case, some of this information is not releasable," said Shea, adding Bassil was welcome to legally contest the blacklisting.

Bassil was sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which targets human rights abuses and corruption. Shea did not rule out further sanctions against him or others in Lebanon.

Washington in September blacklisted two former Lebanese government ministers it accused of directing political and economic favors to Hezbollah.

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Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, told The Associated Press that Monday's military border skirmish with Israel was a clear indication the current Lebanese government, which Hezbollah supports, doesn't have sovereignty in the south, along Israel's border, where thousands of UN peacekeepers are based.

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The IDF said it thwarted an infiltration attempt Monday by Hezbollah terrorists, setting off one of the heaviest exchanges of fire along the volatile Israel-Lebanon frontier since the 2006 Second Lebanon War between the bitter enemies. Hezbollah denied its members were involved in any activity along the border while the Lebanese government commented only a day later.

"Yesterday's incident gives a clear idea about the state of sovereignty for the Lebanese state. Is that acceptable?" Geagea said in the telephone interview. "Which Arab and foreign countries want to deal with a government that considers itself nonexistent at a time when there is a security danger along its border?"

Hezbollah and its allies of the Free Patriotic Movement of President Aoun control majority seats in parliament and are the main backers of the current government that took office earlier this year. Prime Minister Hassan Diab replaced Western-backed Saad Hariri who resigned in October, following nationwide protests against widespread corruption and mismanagement by Lebanon's rulers.

Since then, the government has struggled to contain the escalating crisis, made worse by the pandemic. The government defaulted on paying back its debt for the first time in March, and the past few months have seen the Lebanese currency lose more than 80% of its value.

The government has requested a bailout from the International Monetary Fund but negotiations with the lender that started in mid-May have stalled because of divisions within the Lebanese leadership. Oil-rich gulf nations as well as international donors are refusing to give Lebanon a hand before major reforms are carried out within state institutions.

Geagea, whose party has taken part in successive governments for the past decade and has 15 legislators in the 128-member parliament, said Lebanon received much assistance from Arab and Western countries in the past but all was wasted. Only a new, independent government would be able to win back the international community's confidence, he said.

Geagea warned the alliance between Hezbollah and Aoun's party "has brought Lebanon to where it is and they will continue to do the same in the months to come."

"As long as they are in power we will continue in the crisis. It is a very simple and clear equation," Geagea said. "They are living on a different planet."

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The state's strategic decisions are in Hezbollah's hands, leading to deteriorating Lebanon's relations with Arab states, he also said.

Geagea, whose party played a major role in Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, said that once Hezbollah withdraws its fighters from Yemen, Syria and Iraq, and stops implementing Iran's policy, Arab states will most likely review relations with Lebanon.

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At least 114 people were wounded in the protests, according to the Red Cross and the Lebanese Civil Defense teams, with 47 taken to hospitals for treatment. Most of the wounds were from rubber bullets, some in the face and upper body, an Associated Press reporter said. Among the injured from rubber bullets were at least two journalists, including one from the local TV station Al-Jadeed news who was struck in the hand.

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Demonstrators threw rocks and other projectiles and even shot a stream of fire from ignited aerosol cans. Security forces responded with tear gas and water cannons before turning to rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds. A few protesters tried to climb metal barriers separating them from the riot police. Hundreds more, some chanting "Revolution," gathered farther down the blocked street that leads to the parliament building in central Beirut.

Army troops were deployed to the area briefly, and the violence stopped as protesters cheered the troops. But the army pulled out minutes later, and the clashes resumed with security forces barricaded behind the barriers.

By late Sunday night, security forces and army troops were deployed in large formations to the blocked streets. Amid a downpour of rain and the advance of security forces, protesters retreated and the situation calmed in central Beirut. Army patrols briefly roamed the streets to prevent protesters from returning to outside the parliament.

During the rioting, protesters smashed the windows of two stores affiliated with an outgoing minister from the government they had accused of corruption. In one of the stores, a telecommunication company, the protesters smashed the windows and trashed the contents of the store as security alarms blared.

Security forces reinforced the metal barriers surrounding the parliament building earlier in the day, after the worst night of violence since the unrest erupted several months ago.

There were nine hours of street battles with security forces Saturday as some protesters tried to scale the barriers. Those clashes left at least 377 people wounded, the Red Cross and the Lebanese Civil Defense said. More than 120 were treated in hospitals, including a protester with an eye injury, as well as members of the security forces. Lebanon's Internal Security Forces said 142 of its members were wounded, including seven officers, some with serious concussions.

Lawyers defending protesters said 43 were arrested Saturday, including two minors. They said 11 were released the same day, and the other 32 were released Sunday, pending investigation. Most of the detainees were beaten while in custody, the lawyers added.

The military made a show of force Sunday, with large numbers deployed in downtown Beirut and in southern Lebanon, patrolling ahead of the rallies. Riot police were in the front line guarding the parliament.

The clashes took place amid a rapidly worsening financial crisis and an ongoing impasse over the formation of a new government. Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the rest of the government resigned in late October. Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab had been expected to announce a new 18-member Cabinet on Sunday after meeting with President Michel Aoun, but there was no announcement after a 90-minute meeting, signaling another delay among the fractious political leaders.

The protests, which began in October, took a violent turn last week as popular frustration began to rise. Demonstrators say the political elites have ignored their calls for forming an independent government to tackle the deepening crisis.

"We don't accept the government the way they are forming it. They are using the old method to form the government ... so it's not acceptable," said protester Jil Samaha. "We want a different way of forming a government."

Demonstrators have been rallying against those who have held power since the end of the 1975-90 civil war. They blame politicians for widespread corruption and mismanagement in a country that has accumulated one of the largest debt ratios in the world.

Panic and anger have gripped the public as the Lebanese pound, pegged to the dollar for more than two decades, plummeted in value. It lost more than 60% of its value in recent weeks on the black market. The economy has seen no growth and flows of foreign currency dried up in the already heavily indebted country that relies on imports for most basic goods.

Protesters targeted commercial banks, which have imposed informal capital controls, limiting the withdrawal of dollars and foreign transfers.

Interior Minister Raya El Hassan on Saturday condemned the attacks on security forces and public and private property as "totally unacceptable."

However, Human Rights Watch described the response by the security forces as "brutal," and called for an urgent end to a "culture of impunity" for police abuse.

"There was no justification for the brutal use of force unleashed by Lebanon's riot police against largely peaceful demonstrators in downtown Beirut," said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at HRW.

Security forces and the military had prepared for more violence by blocking access to some buildings in central Beirut with razor wire, and closing access to areas that included a popular tourist site. Workers also welded fencing together across roads leading to parliament.

On Beirut's rain-dampened streets early in the day, shopkeepers, banks and other businesses swept up broken glass and boarded-up windows. Workers at one bank took down a large sign to remove any identification to avoid angering protesters, who smashed the windows and the facade of Lebanon's Banking Association headquarters with metal bars on Saturday night.

Soot and ashes still littered the ground where security forces burned the tents of the protesters who staged a sit-in.

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Hassan Diab, a professor at the American University of Beirut, was named by President Michel Aoun after a day of consultations with lawmakers in which he gained a simple majority in the 128-member parliament. He won support from 69 lawmakers, including the parliamentary bloc of Shiite Hezbollah and Amal movements, as well as lawmakers affiliated with Aoun.

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But Diab failed to get the support of Lebanon's major Sunni leaders, including former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. This is critical because under the country's sectarian-based system the premier must come from the Sunni community.

That also will make it difficult for him to form an inclusive cabinet able to gain the international community's trust and unlock badly needed assistance for the tiny Mediterranean country that is facing its worst economic and financial crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.

Friendly nations, including France, have made it clear they will not support the heavily indebted nation before a reform-minded cabinet is formed.

Demonstrators called the 60-year-old Diab part of the old ruling class that they oppose and continued their protests.

In his first public address, Diab said he would work quickly to form a government in consultations with political parties and representatives of the protest movement. He said he is committed to a reform plan and described the current situation as "critical and sensitive," requiring exceptional efforts and collaboration.

"We are facing a national crisis that doesn't allow for the luxury of personal and political battles but needs national unity," Diab said. He told the protesters he hears their "pain."

US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale was traveling to Beirut, the most senior foreign diplomat to visit the country since the crisis. US diplomats have said they support the quick formation of a government that can bring about reform.

Support from Iran-backed Hezbollah guarantees Diab a thorny path, potentially inviting criticism from Western and Gulf nations that had supported Hariri. The Shiite group is designated a terrorist organization by the US, some Gulf Arab countries and a few Latin American nations. The European Union considers only Hezbollah's military wing to be a terrorist group.

Maha Yahya, director of Carnegie Middle East, a Beirut-based think tank, said Diab arrives with no support from his community and no consensus at a time when Lebanon is facing an economic meltdown and needs international assistance.

"The problem is he is coming on as a weakened prime minister," she said.

Following Diab's appointment, protesters gathered in central Beirut's Martyrs' Square, the epicenter of the protests. They cast him as part of the class of politicians they oppose. Supporters of Hariri also began taking to the streets.

"I see the country is going to waste. With this kind of government, no one will deal with it, no Arab, no Europe and no US," said Saeb Hujrat, a protester in Martyr Square. He held a large banner reading: "We want a government outside of the ruling class."

For two months, the leaderless protests have been calling for a government made up of specialists that can work on dealing with the economic crisis. The protests have recently turned violent, with frequent clashes between security forces and protesters.

Supporters of Hezbollah and Amal also have attacked the protest camp site in Beirut several times. The most recent one came last weekend when they set cars on fire and threw stones and firecrackers at security forces for hours.

Diab gained attention after caretaker premier Hariri withdrew his name from consideration following weeks of haggling and deep divisions among the various factions over naming him again. Hariri resigned Oct. 29 in response to the unprecedented mass protests and as an already-dire economic crisis deteriorated quickly.

Hariri had insisted he would head a cabinet made up of specialists to deal with the crisis. Hezbollah, which initially backed him, demanded a government including all major political factions.

Diab served as minister of education from 2011-14, when Hezbollah and its allies overturned a cabinet headed by Hariri at the time.

Diab was in the UK when Lebanon's civil war broke out. There, he received undergraduate and graduate degrees in communications and computer engineering from the universities of Leeds Metropolitan, Surrey and Bath.

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Trouble flared in several areas of Lebanon on Tuesday night, including the Beirut district of Ain el-Remmaneh, where the civil war began. The army deployed to prevent a confrontation between supporters of rival Christian and Shiite Muslim groups.

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A senior Shiite cleric warned on Wednesday the street could spin out of control and push "our nation into a slide towards anarchy." Sheikh Ali al-Khatib urged politicians to "remedy the situation and contain the deterioration."

Lebanon has been sinking deeper into turmoil since protests erupted against its ruling elite on Oct. 17, fueled by anger at corruption that has led to the worst economic crisis in decades.

The economic crisis, which was long in the making, has now come to a head: dollars are scarce, the pegged Lebanese pound has slumped by more than 40%, and controls imposed by banks are preventing depositors from withdrawing their savings.

In parallel, a political crisis has left Lebanon without a government since Sunni Muslim politician Saad Hariri quit as prime minister on Oct. 29, bringing down a coalition that included the heavily armed, Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah.

Though violence has been rare since the protests began, this week's incidents included assaults by supporters of Hezbollah and its Shiite ally Amal on demonstrators in Beirut and the city of Tyre, where a protest camp set was set on fire.

Tuesday's incident in Beirut began when a three-year-old video showing men insulting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah began to circulate on social media, according to a security source.

Believing the men in the video to be supporters of the Christian Lebanese Forces party from Ain el-Remmaneh, a group from the neighboring Shiite district of Chiyah took to the streets. The army deployed as rocks began to fly.

With tension among party supporters running high, the security source warned that "playing with the street is very dangerous." "All the while the political matters are not being resolved, the security pressures are getting more dangerous."

Ali, the owner of a cafe on a road between Chiyah and Ain el-Remmaneh, said the situation had been "unbelievably tense."

"The situation in the country is not okay and things like this should not be allowed to happen, because our country cannot bear it. As a Shiite, I cannot accept that the Shiite side does this to the Christian side, and I cannot accept the Christian side does this to the Shiite side."

The area was a front line of the civil war which began as a conflict between Lebanese Christian groups on the one hand and Palestinian, Lebanese leftist and Sunni Muslim groups on the other, and fractured Lebanon into sectarian enclaves.

Jamileh al Jaroush, in her 50s, who lives on the street dividing Chiyah from Ain el-Remmaneh, said she had been praying for God to calm the situation. "Those who did not witness the previous civil war don't know the meaning of war ... it is impossible to repeat it."

There was also trouble in the Christian town of Bikfaya when supporters of President Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian and Hezbollah ally, tried to drive a convoy through the area, a political bastion of the Kataeb party which opposes Hezbollah.

As people sought to block the road to prevent the Aoun supporters from passing, the army tried to open it, the security source said. A few people were lightly injured in clashes with sticks and stones.

There were also disturbances in the mainly Sunni Muslim city of Tripoli, where an office belonging to the political party founded by Aoun was attacked, along with a bank ATM. A hand grenade was thrown but did not explode, the source said.

The incidents have taken the crisis into a more dangerous phase, said Nabil Boumonsef, a columnist at An-Nahar newspaper. While the number of casualties had so far been limited, the violence would become harder to contain.

"If there is not a quick, political containment of the crisis, we are facing the danger of armed clashes," he said.

He noted that while only Hezbollah has heavy weaponry, light arms are widely dispersed throughout Lebanon. "When you find problems of this type, you will find that weapons will spread in five seconds into the hands of everyone," he said.

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