British ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter affirmed the UK's support for Lebanon's Armed Forces because “it is the only legitimate defender of Lebanon,” the UK Embassy said in a press release on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Ghassan Hasbani stressed on Thursday that the country's military institution is the only entity entitled to defend Lebanon and protect its border.

The body of a Syrian man was found dead on Thursday in the Chouf area of Iqlim al-Kharroub southeast of Beirut, the National News Agency reported.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri met with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the ministry's headquarters in Washington, Hariri's media office said on Thursday.

Fighting between Hizbullah and a former al-Qaida affiliate on the Syria-Lebanon border halted Thursday after a ceasefire was reached, Lebanese media and Hizbullah outlets reported.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has urged the U.N. Security Council to consider Hizbullah "a destructive terrorist force" and "a major obstacle to peace" that is "dedicated to the destruction of Israel."

She said the council must get serious about enforcing its resolutions that involve Hizbullah and its backer Iran, including many calling on the armed group to disarm.

Hizbullah fired rockets and artillery Wednesday afternoon at al-Nusra Front's posts in Arsal's Wadi Hmayyed area and blew up Nusra “operations rooms” in the town's outskirts, following cautious calm in the morning.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed that the government’s main goal is to strengthen the State's institution and its military and security forces in order to extend their control over the entire Lebanese territory.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag and the Director of UNRWA in Lebanon, Claudio Cordone, visited the Palestine refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, UNRWA said in a statement on Wednesday.

They met on Tuesday with representatives and residents of the camp, including women and youth groups, and visited UNRWA installations and other areas in the camp.

The “second phase” of Hizbullah's offensive against al-Nusra Front militants in the outskirts of Arsal will probably “end at dawn on Sunday,” paving way for the “third phase which opens channels of negotiations to secure the withdrawal of insurgents into Syria,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.