Outgoing President Michel Aoun's term ends on Oct 31 and divisions remain among political blocs over the makeup of a new cabinet.

Branded a terrorist group by Washington and a sworn enemy of Israel, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was certainly nowhere near the negotiating room during US shuttle diplomacy which clinched the landmark deal.

The agreement could unlock significant offshore gas production.

The election is seen as a test of whether the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies can keep their assembly majority amid soaring poverty and anger at parties in power.

With Lebanon in the grip of an economic and financial crisis – seen by the World Bank as one of the world's worst since the 1850s – the diplomatic row becomes all the more damaging.

A flareup along the border this week has seen Israel carry out its first air strikes on Lebanese territory in seven years and Hezbollah claim a direct rocket attack on Israeli territory for the first time since 2019.

Lebanese social media is flooded with requests for donations of baby milk and medications that have disappeared, and even food.

With more than half the population living below the poverty line and the Lebanese pound sliding rapidly against the dollar on the black market, vaccines are a luxury for many.

A member of the rescue team says the pulse and breathing near the ground floor of the collapsed building most likely come from a child.