The Joint Parliamentary Committees on Monday approved the capital control draft law and referred it to parliament for a final vote, Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said.

“The discussion was beneficial and a final format of the law was adopted,” Bou Saab said after the session.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has stressed that the “strongest” presidential candidate until the moment is MP Michel Mouawad, noting that “his name is not proposed for entertainment purposes.”

The LF leader voiced his remarks during an overnight interview on al-Jadeed television.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called Monday for a cabinet session on Wednesday morning.

The Free Patriotic Movement had repeatedly warned against holding any caretaker cabinet session during presidential vacuum, arguing that any decree issued would require the signatures of all ministers.

Thirteen relatives of the victims of the massive 2020 explosion at Beirut's port showed up on Monday to answer questions by police after they were accused of rioting and vandalism during protests over the stalled investigation into the blast.

On Tuesday, victims' relatives had thrown stones at the palace of justice in Beirut and stormed the outer gate of the building. Some of them were injured as they clashed with security forces.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday strongly condemned the arrest of prominent port blast case activist William Noon, saying his detention proved that the judiciary “has become a tool for vengeance, malice and hatred and that security agencies are carry out police state practices.”

The arrest of a prominent activist in the port blast case, William Noon, has sparked protests across the country and political condemnation.

The Lebanese Army on Friday announced that it opened fire at an Israeli drone near the border with Israel.

“As an army patrol was inspecting an (Israeli) violation in the outskirts of the town of Houla and the Honin Valley, a drone belonging to the Israeli enemy violated the Lebanese airspace over the aforementioned area and hovered over the patrol, which promoted soldiers to open fire toward it,” the army said in a statement.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday held talks with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The National News Agency said the meeting tackled means to develop the relations between Lebanon and Iran in addition to the situation in the region.

Israel’s outgoing army chief Aviv Kohavi has warned that if a new war broke out with Hezbollah, Israel would send Lebanon 50 years back in time through what he called “waves of firepower” that Israel would unleash on the Iranian-backed group as well as against Lebanese national infrastructure.

“Hezbollah and (its leader Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah know that Lebanon will be hit in an unprecedented way which it has never experienced in its history,” Kohavi said in an English-language interview published by The Jeursalem Post.

Caretaker Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram announced Friday that it has been decided to approve a hike of an LBP 1.9 million on the wages of the private sector and to increase the transportation allowance from LBP 95,000 to LBP 125,000.

The decision was taken in a meeting for the country’s Consumer Price Index Committee.