Following a tour he made where he visited several Arab and Gulf countries after his election in October, President Michel Aoun is expected to launch visits to European countries that will start in the Vatican for a meeting with Pope Francis, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

The President will travel to the Vatican on March 15 and will hold the meeting with the Pope on March 16, NNA said.

The cabinet convened in a regular meeting on Wednesday at the Presidential Palace and approved a list of security, military and judicial appointments, including the appointment of General Joseph Aoun as army commander.

President Michel Aoun chaired the meeting in the presence of PM Saad Hariri and the ministers.

President Michel Aoun stressed on Wednesday on the need to eliminate legal differences between men and women in Lebanon, as he praised women's “sacrifices and devotion,” the National News Agency reported.

At the Baabda Palace, Aoun received a delegation from the Lebanese Women Council on the occasion of International Women's Day in the presence of First Lady Nadi Chami Aoun, NNA said.

Twelve Syrian nationals have been arrested on Wednesday in the northern area of Zgharta for illegal entry into Lebanon, the State-run National News Agency reported.

Lebanese army patrol staged raids against encampments of Syrian refugees in the Zgharta town of Mezyara, and arrested 12 Syrians for sneaking into Lebanese territories, said NNA.

President Michel Aoun is expected to issue a statement to resolve the controversy over refraining from signing a decree inviting the electorate bodies to begin preparations for the looming parliamentary polls, and the interpretations that spread about his “preference for vacuum at the parliament,” al-Akhbar daily reported on Wednesday.

The Directorate General of the Presidency will issue the statement that includes the President's position after he refused to sign a decree --signed by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq-- that initiates preparations for the parliamentary elections due in May in order to avoid staging the polls based on the current controversial 1960 majoritarian law.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed on Tuesday at the Oil and Gas Forum that the government plans to successfully transform Lebanon's natural resources wealth into sustained economic growth.

State Minster for Combating Corruption Nicolas Tueni, stressed on Tuesday that funding the wage scale can easily be done by preventing corruption and ending squandering of public funds.

“Ending the squander (of public funds), corruption and administrative malpractices can easily provide the needed funds for the wage scale,” said Tueni in an interview to VDL (93.3).

The United Arab Emirates' Foreign Ministry has reportedly summoned Lebanon's Ambassador to Abu Dhabi to protest statements made by President Michel Aoun about the need for Hizbullah's arms to back the Lebanese army, al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday.

UAE's foreign ministry “expressed utmost protest against the statement which Aoun has made during a visit to Egypt on February 13. He emphasized that Hizbullah's arms do not contradict with the State and are an essential component of the means to defend Lebanon,” added the daily.

France stressed on Monday that it will continue to back the Lebanese army and provide it with the needed military training, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The Public Schools Teachers Association staged a sit-in in Riad al-Solh in Downtown Beirut on Monday in parallel with a parliamentary joint committee meeting in Nejmeh Square dedicated to studying the thorny wage scale file.

The protesters want to press the government into approving the long-stalled scale.