Hizbullah official Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said on Saturday that Hizbullah will not let the poor pay for the economic crisis, the National News Agency said.

“Hizbullah will not let a solution to the economic and financial crisis be made at the expense of the poor. Those who think of a solution from the pockets of the poor are merely creating a new crisis,” said Qaouq.

Lebanese authorities have reportedly been warned about border smuggling from Lebanon into Syria that reportedly revived lately in light of Syria’s fuel shortage, pan-Arab al-Hayat daily said on Saturday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Saturday urged Lebanese officials for serious efforts to counter an economic crisis to save Lebanon.

Defense Minister Elias Bou Saad replied to the Finance Minister’s remarks, without naming him, and disagreed with him over possible austerity measures against the military.

Head of Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Mohammed Raad on Friday said the government “must not take from the poor and state employees in its quest to implement reforms and slash the budget deficit,” the National News Agency reported.

The Ambassador of Lebanon in Rome, Mira Daher, held a series of meetings to promote tourism in Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

As Lebanon mulls austerity measures to slash its ballooning budget deficit, President Michel Aoun insists the 2019 state budget draft gets discussed in Cabinet during its upcoming meeting next week on Thursday, said al-Joumhouria daily on Friday.

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil revealed shocking figures related to salaries of some state employees, a needed revelation after a public outcry provoked by government plans to cut pays as part of strict austerity measures to counter an economic collapse.

In the midst of street protests rejecting the possibility of salary cuts of state employees as part of austerity measures to reduce a ballooning budget deficit, economic experts say the measure would reduce the deficit but could also trigger an economic recession, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

Public sector employees fear that the reduction of the budget deficit will come at their expense by deducting a percentage of their wages which increased after the government approved a long awaited wage scale.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday met with British Chief of Staff, General Sir Nick Carter at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, the Presidency media office said on Twitter.