Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said on Tuesday that the cabinet has approved the 2017 draft budget plan during Monday's meeting where “new elements to promote tax justice and abolish protected monopolies were introduced.”

Speaking after an extraordinary meeting of the Change and Reform bloc, the Minister pointed out: “We underlined three old demands of the bloc namely the tax on real estate profits, raising taxes on bank profits and bank interests.”

An electricity plan proposed by Lebanon's Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil was approved by the government on Tuesday where its articles will be studied and approved individually by the cabinet.

In a session devoted to study the electricity-reform plan, the cabinet convened at the Presidential Palace in Baabda and was chaired by President Michel Aoun in the presence of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the ministers.

A new difficulty has surfaced on the eve of the Arab summit after reports said that five former presidents and premiers of Lebanon have sent a letter to head of the Arab summit including negative positions of Hizbullah -which was interpreted as bypassing Lebanon's position, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Lebanon's participation in the summit is keen on highlighting the image and consistent position of the country during the new term of President Michel Aoun with PM Saad Hariri's participation. But what drew the attention was a message sent to the summit by five former presidents and prime ministers which perturbs Lebanon's stance during the summit, said the daily.

Syrian opposition factions destroyed a Hizbullah military position and killed a number of its commanders and fighters in the town of Qamhana in central Syria's Hama district on Sunday, Sky News Arabia reported Monday.

According to field sources, the opposition fighters targeted the position with guided missiles, which led to the destruction and the killing of all Hizbullah fighters inside, asserting that among them were field commanders, according to Sky News.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat voiced calls on Monday to save Lebanon's notoriously ineffective and costly electricity sector from plagued “corruption” and described the persisting power crisis as the result of failed political polices a “crime.”

The cabinet will convene on Monday to address Lebanon's 2017 draft budget plan, amid reports that it will also dwell on the electricity file following a new project presented by Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported.

The project under the title “Power Saving Plan” does not take into consideration an earlier request of the Lebanese Forces party to privatize the sector, “but bears a resemblance to a former plan put by Abi Khalil's predecessor (Jebran Bassil) that decided to hire two Turkish power generating vessels under the pretext of overcoming part of the shortage,” said the daily.

President Michel Aoun will head a delegation to Jordan on Tuesday to partake in the 28th Arab League summit which will be held in Amman, and to hold talks with several Arab leaders, media reports said on Monday.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri will accompany Aoun and so will Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and Minister of Economy and Trade Raed Khoury.

Daylight-saving time will begin in Lebanon at midnight where clocks should be set an hour ahead as per a decree issued by cabinet earlier this month.

The move will put Beirut 3 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

The American University of Beirut will pay $700,000 to settle a U.S. lawsuit over allegations it provided "material support" to entities linked to Hizbullah, U.S. officials said.

AUB confirmed in a statement Friday it was settling the lawsuit, which charged it had violated the terms of grants it received from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

After Israel's announcement that it will submit a bill to the Israeli Knesset annexing a disputed maritime border area with Lebanon, Lebanese authorities have sent a letter to the United Nations and Security Council denouncing the move and warning of the repercussions, media reports said on Saturday.

The Israeli move has put Lebanon on alert at the political and diplomatic levels. Prominent political figures have questioned the objectives that Israel seeks to achieve at this particular time, said al-Joumhouria daily.