US President Donald Trump will meet Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Washington next week for talks on issues including refugees and combating terrorism, the White House announced in a statement.

Analysts also anticipate US aid will be high on the agenda of the July 25th talks at the White House.

Hizbullah said on Friday that its fighters had begun an operation against militants on both sides of the country's eastern border with Syria.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri received a telephone call from Lebanese IT expert held in Iran, Nizar Zakka, asking him for the government's intervention to have him released from prison, Hariri's media office said on Friday.

Zakka, who has been held in Iran for nearly two years, described the difficult conditions of his detention and his deteriorating health and asked the Lebanese government to intervene to obtain his liberation.

State Security police arrested on Friday two suspects involved in the possession and selling of hash and narcotics pills, the National News Agency reported.

MP Assem Araji stressed on Friday that the Lebanese army is the sole side authorized to defend the country's border.

“The army is the sole side authorized to confront armed groups and defend the border” said Araji, adding that “the military institution enjoys full (people's) support in order to preserve the security in Arsal and the safety of the displaced,” said Araji in an interview to VDL (93.3).

The Lebanese army on Friday upped its security measures in the northeastern border town of Arsal to keep militants from infiltrating into the town, as Hizbullah launched an offensive against jihadists in the border area, media reports said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Thursday described violation fines imposed by the parliament on illegal maritime property along Lebanon's coastline as a “farce”.

“What a farce that maritime property violators are to pay fines for one time only. It seems the lawmakers have not noticed how many the violations are,” said Jumblat in a tweet.

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan on Thursday said the Lebanese people were granted “a long-standing right” after the parliament’s approval of the wage scale, and stressed the necessity to have a “balanced” state budget.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri traveled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday where he held talks with the newly appointed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, his media office said in a statement Thursday.

Hariri flew back to Beirut Thursday morning.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was caught Wednesday by a live microphone making a rare public admission that Israel has struck Iranian arms convoys in Syria bound for Hizbullah "dozens and dozens of times."

Netanyahu was also heard railing against the European Union's "crazy" insistence on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a precondition for closer ties with the 28-state bloc, and trumpeting Israel as essential to its prosperity and survival.