Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday promised to continue a botched visit to the Chouf and Aley districts which was marred by a deadly incident in the town of Qabrshmoun.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday lashed out at parties who “opened fire” at Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s visit to Washington, as it called for resuming dialogue over a national defense strategy.

“The bloc condemns some stances and hypotheses that accompanied the Washington visit and approached it based on partisan calculations and narrow wishes,” Mustaqbal said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

In light of reports about possible US sanctions on allies of Hizbullah, Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the US sanctions are “clear in their approach” and that Lebanon’s ties with the US treasury are “good.”

Prime Minister Saad Hariri opened on Tuesday the second expansion phase of the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut in a move to ease congestion at the airport.

Progressive Socialist Party MP Bilal Abdullah stressed there was “no sharp dispute” with the Free Patriotic Movement, but only some “political differences over some files.”

An agreement was reached between senior officials to call the Cabinet for a meeting on Thursday at the summer presidency residence in Beiteddine to discuss the latest political and economic developments, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

President Michel Aoun on Monday pledged developmental projects for the Chouf and Aley regions as he stressed the importance of Christian-Druze unity there.

“Lebanon cannot be united without the unity of Mount Lebanon, which is characterized by its Druze and Christian wings,” Aoun said in a meeting with Arab Tawhid Party chief Wiam Wahhab and a Druze delegation at the summer presidential palace in Beiteddine.

President Michel Aoun on Monday stressed that Washington has not “pressured” his political camp in connection with the recent crisis over the Qabrshmoun incident.

“The United States has not pressured us and our character does not tolerate any pressures in the first place,” Aoun told reporters in a chat at the summer presidential palace in Beiteddine.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Monday announced that he would endorse any initiative put forward by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

“We will positively respond to any initiative by Patriarch al-Rahi to safeguard Mount Lebanon,” Bassil said after meeting al-Rahi in al-Diman.

A senior Hizbullah official on Sunday stressed that all U.S. sanctions and actions against his group are futile.

“All the U.S. talk we are hearing here and there has no value… and all their sanctions, threats and campaigns will not change any of the facts on the ground,” the head of Hizbullah’s executive council Sayyed Hashem Safieddine said.