Over the last week the United States has delivered ammunition, grenade launchers, and Bradley Fighting Vehicles valued at more than $11.7 million to the Lebanese Armed Forces, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said on Tuesday.

“On February 1, the LAF received two hundred MK-19 Automatic Grenade Launchers. On February 3, the United States delivered eight new Bradley Fighting Vehicles to the LAF, part of a package valued at more than $100 million,” the Embassy said in a statement.

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Michael Beary chaired the first tripartite meeting of 2018 on Monday with senior officials from the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Israeli army at the UN position at Ras Al Naqoura, a UNIFIL press release said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said he is likely to turn down Saudi Arabia's invitation to the Kingdom to restore an alliance between the March 14 camp components, adding that he had advised Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to apologize to Speaker Nabih Berri over his remarks, al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday.

President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri will hold their first meeting in two months since their row over a seniority decree in the Presence of Prime Minister Saad Hariri in a bid to “ease tensions” and address Israel's threats about Lebanon's oil and security, media reports said on Tuesday.

Al-Joumhouria daily said the meeting at Baabda Presidential Palace will begin “bilaterally” before noon between Aoun and Berri. Hariri's arrival may be delayed due to his commitment to sponsoring a celebration launching the new vision strategy for OGERO.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq noted Monday that the May parliamentary elections will be “unprecedented” in Lebanon's history, as the ministry started receiving candidate nominations.

In a statement marking the opening of registration, the minister called on those who will take part in electoral campaigns to “show a spirit of national responsibility and endorse a rhetoric based on rationality, moderation and respect of the other opinion.”

Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani urged Lebanon's Cabinet on Monday to find an alternative plan for trash incineration plants pointing out to the dangers its entails on the environment and people.

Militants resisting arrest by the Lebanese army in the restive Tripoli neighbourhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh sparked clashes that killed one on each side, a statement said on Monday.

The violence broke out late on Sunday when the army entered the Sunni stronghold with the aim of arresting wanted militants.

Prospective candidates planning to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections shall start submitting their applications Monday signaling the opening for the May 6, 2018 polls, al-Joumhouria daily reported.

The United States and Argentina are to work together more closely to cut off Hizbullah's funding networks in Latin America, both nations' top diplomats said Sunday.

Argentina has a large Lebanese expatriate population and US authorities suspect groups within it of raising funds through organized crime to support the Iranian-backed armed movement.

A senior Hizbullah official on Sunday reassured that his party and the Lebanese Army are deterring Israel in the oil and gas file, as he accused the U.S., Saudi Arabia and the UAE of meddling in the issue of electoral alliances.