Lebanon’s top Christian cleric called on Sunday for early parliamentary elections and a government formed to rescue the country rather than the ruling “political class” after the explosion in Beirut’s port threw the nation into turmoil.

Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, who holds sway in Lebanon as head of the Maronite church from which the head of state must be drawn, warned that Lebanon was today facing “its biggest danger”.

“We will not allow for Lebanon to become a compromise card between nations that want to rebuild ties among themselves,” Al-Rai said. “We must start immediately with change and quickly hold early parliamentary elections.”