Lebanon will file a lawsuit against the suspect behind the New Year's terror attack in Istanbul that killed 39 people, including three Lebanese citizens, the state-run National News Agency reported.

A Justice Ministry official has been appointed to defend the rights of the Lebanese victims and sue the suspect, who was recently detained, before Turkish courts, media office of Justice Minister Salim Jreissati said in a statement.

MP Ammar Houri denied on Friday reports claiming that al-Mustaqbal Movement has shown “openness” to discussing an electoral law fully based on proportional representation that had been devised by Najib Miqati's government.

“Reports circulating that Mustaqbal has reached a format close to the so-called hybrid law is but the same format it has earlier agreed on with the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party,” Houri clarified in an interview with the VDL (100.5).

A new political crisis could be looming in Lebanon amid concerns that political parties might fail to agree on a new law for the parliamentary polls, and President Michel Aoun's insistence not to sign a request calling the electoral bodies to stage the elections under the current 1960 electoral law, the Kuwaiti As-Seyasah daily reported on Friday.

The matter is a serious one, said the daily. Only ten days separate Lebanon from February 21, the deadline to call the electorate bodies. Meanwhile an agreement on a new electoral law does not seem possible in light of contending political interests. Some political parties support a proportional representation system, others back a hybrid law and another group wants the polls be staged under the current 1960 majoritarian law.

Endeavors to ease the strained relations between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi have surfaced lately, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported on Friday.

The daily said that efforts have “focused on a reconciliation between the two men in a bid to re-embrace the northern city of Tripoli (of a Sunni majority) back under al-Mustaqbal Movement on the anniversary of slain ex-PM Rafik Hariri," Saad's father.

Saudi Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer al-Sabhan stressed that Saudi Arabia is keen on Lebanon's unity and seeks “distinctive” political relations between the two countries, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

“Lebanon is one of the important countries for the kingdom which is keen on having distinctive political ties, similar to relations between the Saudi and Lebanese people,” al-Sabhan told the daily in an interview.

In light of a cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday to discuss the state's fiscal budget, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said there are genuine intentions to approve the budget this year after Lebanon failed to approve one since 2005.

“As the result of a joint will between political parties, for the first time in years the budget will be discussed with the intention of approving it,” Khalil told al-Joumhouria daily in an interview.

The World Bank said Tuesday it has earmarked $200 million for repairing Lebanon's unsafe roads, signaling a resumption of international aid months after the election of a president following two and a half years of political vacuum in the country.

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said on Tuesday that the cabinet must schedule sessions strictly dedicated to discussing a new electoral law for the looming parliamentary polls.

“The cabinet must hold successive meetings where discussions strictly focus on finding a new electoral law,” said Adwan after an adjourned parliament session that was scheduled for questioning the cabinet.

MP Serge Ter Sarkisian voiced calls on Tuesday upon President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri to “safeguard their joint visions” for Lebanon and to “preserve their consensual views” in light of the debate between political parties over an electoral law for the upcoming parliamentary polls.

“I call upon the President and PM to complete their common vision and to maintain consensual positions,” said the MP in an interview with VDL (93.3).

Islamic State 'emir', Ahmed Wahid al-Abed, was killed in a bomb explosion in the northeastern town of Arsal, LBCI reported on Tuesday.

Al-Abed, a Syrian hailing from al-Jarajir town in al-Qalamoun, was killed in a bomb explosion in the outskirts of Arsal, it added.