A Progressive Socialist Party delegation on Thursday met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri and announced that ties between the two parties have been mended and are now “firmer than before.”

The delegation comprised the ministers Akram Shehayyeb and Wael Abu Faour and the MPs Fisal al-Sayegh and Hadi Abu al-Husn. The meeting was held in the presence of Hariri's aide and ex-minister Ghattas Khoury.

Suspended Internal Security Forces officer Lt. Col. Suzanne al-Hajj on Thursday told the Military Court that interrogators had showed her “a paper issued by the Saudi intelligence command” asking Lebanese authorities to hand her the “severest penalties” and “expel” her from her post as head of the ISF anti-cyber crime bureau.

MTV meanwhile reported that Hajj stressed in her testimony that she “never had any form of ties” to the hacker Elie Ghabash, who is accused of having fabricated the electronic evidence that landed the actor Ziad Itani in jail on charges of spying for Israel.

Progressive Socialist Party chief ex-MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday filed a lawsuit against al-Jadeed television and Charbel Khalil's Qadh-w-Jam satirical TV show, accusing them of “libel, defamation and stirring sectarian sentiments.”

The lawsuit was submitted by the justice and legislation officer of the PSP, the lawyer Suzanne Ismail.

The Council of Ministers on Thursday approved the new government's Policy Statement, after it was finalized a day earlier by a ministerial panel.

“We demanded placing the strategic decisions exclusively in the hands of the state and our demand was recorded without being added to the Statement,” Social Affairs Minister Richard Kouyoumjian of the LF said after the session.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday, said he raised with visiting Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, the Israeli violations against Lebanon’s offshore gas blocks.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri has called on Italian companies to invest in Lebanon as it seeks to address deepening economic challenges.

Hariri met with his Italian counterpart, Giuseppe Conte, in Beirut on Thursday and said that "the coming period in Lebanon is a period of work ... with many investment opportunities."

The Change Movement head, Elie Mahfoud criticized on Thursday Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s Wednesday remarks, saying he is paving the way for an Iranian role in Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

A Lebanese national who entered the occupied territories of Palestine was reportedly caught by Israeli forces in the vicinity of the radar site in the heights of Shebaa Farms, LBCI TV channel reported on Thursday.

A Russian initiative aiming to help Syrian refugees return from Lebanon and other states back to their homeland is “mere empty talk,” Saudi al-Hayat daily reported on Thursday.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced Wednesday that he is willing to ask Iran to provide the Lebanese Army with weapons and air defense systems, while noting that Tehran can “easily” solve Lebanon's chronic electricity problem.

“Will the Lebanese government dare to accept the Iranian proposals? Why should Lebanon remain afraid to cooperate with Iran?” Nasrallah said in a televised address marking the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution.