Nizar Zakka, who has been jailed in Iran since 2015, on Tuesday announced his nomination for the vacant Sunni parliamentary seat in Tripoli under the slogan “The Freedom Solution for Lebanon”.

“I'm Nizar Zakka, the ordinary Lebanese citizen who has been kidnapped in Iran since September 2015. I ask my people in each of Tripoli -- my mother's city -- and Qalamoun -- my hometown -- to grant me their confidence to be their roaring voice in parliament -- the voice of every ordinary citizen whose voice is absent or deliberately stifled,” Zakka said in a letter from his prison in the Tehran area of Evin.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday blasted a statement issued by State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib over the Brussels conference, as he noted that those “protecting corruption” are the ones holding “press conferences.”

“We are encouraging Saudis to return to Lebanon,” Hariri said after meeting President Michel Aoun following a visit to Saudi Arabia.

President Michel Aoun held a meeting at Baabda Palace on Tuesday with Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UNIFIL Commander Stefano Del Cole and an accompanying delegation, the State-run National News Agency reported.

On the eve of the donor Brussels conference on Syria, Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated that the Syrian refugees must return to their homeland noting a need for coordination with the Syrian government to achieve that end, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Former premier and Beirut MP Tammam Salam held talks Monday with ex-PM Fouad Saniora and defended him in the face of the latest controversy over the state's financial accounts.

“Everyone has been annoyed by the targeting of a grand patriotic figure, ex-PM Fouad Saniora,” Salam said after visiting Saniora's residence in Beirut's Bliss area.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has submitted its tenth annual report to the United Nations Secretary-General and to the Government of Lebanon, the STL said on Monday.

The annual report details the activities of the Tribunal from 1 March 2018 to 28 February 2019, its objectives for the coming year and “highlights the achievements of the four organs: Chambers, Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), Defense Office and Registry,” the court said in a statement.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri held talks Monday with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz at the al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, Hariri's office said.

“The meeting focused on the bilateral cooperation between the two countries and the latest developments in the region, especially in Lebanon," the office added in a statement.

Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Salim Jreissati on Sunday criticized a decision to exclude State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib from a Lebanese official delegation that will represent Lebanon at a Brussels conference on refugees.

“The U.N. refugee agency is more and more heading into Syria to assist the Syrian refugees who are returning to their country, and as we want for the government to endorse its political paper on refugees, we have not understood the exclusion of the state minister for refugee affairs from the official delegation to the Brussels conference,” Jreissati tweeted.

A technical panel tasked with discussing means to boost cooperation between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia began its works on Sunday at the InterContinental Riyadh hotel in the Saudi capital.

Saudi Arabia's assistant finance minister Abdul Aziz al-Rashid opened the meetings in an address in which he stressed “the need to activate Lebanese-Saudi ties.”

The leader of Hizbullah is calling on his supporters to donate funds as it comes under tighter sanctions from western countries.

The rare call came during a televised speech Friday by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a few days after Britain joined the United States in banning the group as a terrorist organization. The U.S. has increased its pressure on the group recently, placing several sets of sanctions on Hizbullah and its regional backer, Iran.