Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam met with President Joseph Aoun on Friday evening to brief him on the outcome of his non-binding consultations with lawmakers and his talks with Speaker Nabih Berri.

Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide MP Ali Hassan Khalil admitted overnight that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement did not discuss with President Joseph Aoun -- prior to his election -- the issue of who will be the country’s new premier.

Syria’s new security authorities on Friday seized a weapons shipment that was intended to be smuggled into Lebanon through illegal border crossings, Syria’s new authorities said.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday said he held a “promising” meeting with Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam.

MP Ali Fayyad of Hezbollah’s bloc claimed Thursday that some forces did not honor understandings that allegedly preceded the election of Joseph Aoun as president.

On October 1, 2024, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a new five-year $10 million activity, Empowering Local Systems in Agriculture (ELSA) in Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy said on Thursday.

The lead judicial investigator in the Beirut port blast case, Judge Tarek al-Bitar on Thursday charged 10 new suspects in the case, who include port employees and current and former security officials, Al-Jadeed TV said.

The TV network identified the suspects as port employees Marwan Kaaki and Mohammad Qassabiyeh, the security official in charge of Hangar 12 Rabih Srour, Customs chief Brig. Gen. Raymond Khoury, Customs officer Brig. Gen. Adel Francis, General Security officer Brig. Gen. Najm al-Ahmadiyeh, former General Security officers Munah Sawaya and Mohammad Hassan Mouqalled, Lebanese Army brig. gen. Marwan Eid and former army intelligence chief brig. gen. Edmond Fadel.

President Joseph Aoun on Thursday received invitations to visit Qatar and Jordan, as he met separately in Baabda with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi and Qatari Ambassador to Lebanon Sheikh Saud bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani.

Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam kicked off Thursday the second day of non-binding consultations with lawmakers over the formation of the new government.

He is expected to deliver a speech after the consultations.

U.S. Major General Jasper Jeffers, the Chairman of the Cessation of Hostilities Implementation “Mechanism”, joined by French Brigadier General Guillaume Ponchin, have accompanied Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) officers today to visit LAF checkpoints in south-west Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy said.

LAF 5th Brigade assumed full control of this area last week immediately after Israeli forces withdrew. Soldiers in 5th Brigade are now “in the process of making roads and villages safe for residents to return home,” the Embassy said in a statement.