Parts of the facade of a residential building in the Sin el-Fil-Nabaa area collapsed on Thursday, causing no casualties.

Media reports said the building had been evacuated prior to the incident after residents sensed that something was wrong with the structure.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hopes to use his first visit to Lebanon this week to step up pressure on Iran and its local ally, Hizbullah. But he could face resistance even from America's local allies, who fear that pushing too hard could spark a backlash and endanger the tiny country's fragile peace.

Hizbullah wields more power than ever in parliament and the government. Pompeo will meet Friday with President Michel Aoun and will also hold talks with Lebanon's parliament speaker and foreign minister — all three of whom are close Hizbullah allies. He will also meet with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a close Western ally who has been reluctant to confront Hizbullah.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun held talks on Thursday with British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling and US Ambassador Elizabeth Richard to discuss progress on the security of the Lebanese-Syrian border, during the High Level Steering Committee (HLSC).

While Lebanese officials race to launch positions calling for austerity and anti-corruption, the agenda of the cabinet session on Thursday reportedly includes 17 out of 54 items on travel requests for conferences, seminars or exhibitions, and travel requests for ministers and first-class staff or university professors, Asharq al-Awsat daily reported Thursday.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim said that coordination between the security apparatuses of Lebanon and Syria have never stopped, which made it possible to exchange information about terrorists who crossed the border and hence confront terrroism, al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Wednesday that the Russian initiative on the repatriation of Syrian refugees is “the only pragmatic one on the table.”

“Lebanon can no longer bear the burdens of more than 1.5 million refugees of its Syrian brothers on its soil, which are massive economic, social, environmental and financial burdens,” Hariri said in a speech during a Center House dinner banquet to honor Georges Shaaban, his adviser on Russian affairs.

U.N. Special Coordinator Jan Kubis held talks Wednesday with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil ahead of his travel to New York for his first meeting with the U.N. Security Council in his capacity as Special Coordinator.

“We discussed a number of topics, he gave me a number of messages: One, the issues related to different violations of Resolution 1701 by Israel and the need to deal with them more robustly, by the United Nations, not to try to just focus on one side but indeed to look at both sides what they are doing and what they should not. That is one very clear message,” Kubis said after the meeting.

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday told U.N. envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen that Lebanon “can longer bear the repercussions of the Syrian refugee presence on the various social and economic levels.”

“We, as officials, have become worried over the fate of our country,” Aoun told Pedersen during a meeting at the Baabda Palace.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Wednesday that "digitization is one of the primary building blocks for national prosperity", adding that "a digitized nation is simply more intelligent and we all need to work together, cooperate and coordinate on this issue ".

Al-Mustaqbal Movement MP Hadi Hbeish said Wednesday he plans to submit a bill calling for the “expansion” of powers of the Central Inspection Bureau for “efficient fight corruption.”