Prime Minister Saad Hariri held a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi concluding his visit to Davos where he participated in the World Economic Forum, Hariri's media office said on Thursday.

Discussions highlighted the latest regional developments as well as the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The Internal Security Forces nabbed a man accused of pickpocketing people and worshipers at mosques while practicing their religious rituals, the ISF said in a statement on Thursday.

The statement said the suspect, a Syrian identified as Sh. M., was arrested on 23/1/2018 at the entrance of Bahaa Eddine al-Hariri mosque in Sidon.

MP Alain Aoun of the Free Patriotic Movement on Thursday said the FPM's relation with al-Mustaqbal Movement “would not be at the expense of its ties with other parties.”

The “electoral-dialogue” between the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb party has “abruptly stopped” after Gemayel's request that the LF stands “unconditionally” on its side regardless of its Christian reconciliation agreement with the Free Patriotic Movement, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily said on Thursday.

“The electoral-dialogue between the LF and Kataeb has stopped without prior warning. Gemayel was the one to halt the talks over disagreements about the political agenda. Gemayel has asked the LF to choose between standing by the ruling authority and its political components or to align with the popular aspirations of Kataeb,” said the daily.

The March 8 alliance camp has a specific goal to reach in the country's looming parliamentary elections which is embodied in winning one-third of the parliament's seats, al-Akhbar daily reported Thursday.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday met with a senior Saudi official for the first time since the November resignation crisis.

A picture circulated by Lebanese TV networks shows Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir having a standing conversation with Hariri – both smiling – on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

President Michel Aoun held a closed-door meeting with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah at the end of his visit to the Gulf country on Wednesday morning.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea visited Lebanon January 22-23 to discuss combating illicit finance, including “financing of Hizbullah's terrorist and trafficking activities,” the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said in a statement.

In his meetings, Billingslea engaged with Lebanese authorities and financial institutions on combating all forms of illicit finance, stressing “the importance of countering Iranian malign activity in Lebanon, and the U.S. commitment to help Lebanon protect its financial system from Hizbullah, ISIS (Islamic State group), and other terrorist organizations,” the Embassy said.

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel on Tuesday accused authorities of “lying” over the latest garbage crisis on Keserwan's shore, shortly after he was accused of staging a “show” and seeking electoral gains from the Monday warnings he made over the issue.

“All officials mobilized today after the environmental disaster that we witnessed yesterday on Keserwan's shore. I thank them for their enthusiasm, efforts and insistence on media appearance, but we cannot but evaluate what happened,” Gemayel said at a press conference.

The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon confirmed Tuesday that it has received Lebanon's share of the Tribunal’s 2018 budget from the Lebanese government, following an announcement from Prime Minister Saad Hariri's office.

“The full sum of 28,827,533 euros, amounting to 49 percent of the Tribunal's budget, was transferred to the Tribunal's bank account yesterday by the Lebanese government,” the STL said in a statement.