The Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon informs that

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag concluded Thursday her assignment in Lebanon in order to join the government of the Netherlands as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, her office said.

Conflicting media reports emerged Thursday on whether or not the army's Intelligence Directorate had arrested a man who cursed Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on live TV.

Some media reports said army intelligence agents arrested the man, identified as Ali Abdul Rahim Shamas, on drug-related charges.

In light of continued assurances that Lebanon's parliamentary elections will be staged on time, Lebanon's Cabinet convened on Thursday to look into several problematic files as parties remained divided over whether to issue biometric voter cards or initiate pre-registration of voters for the May 2018 polls.

Briefing reporters after the session, Information Minister Melhem Riachi said the Cabinet approved a book of conditions for organizing a call for tenders for setting up waste thermal disintegration plants, in addition to projects related to the Costa Brava and Bourj Hammoud landfills.

Fugitive militant Shadi al-Mawlawi has reportedly left his hideaway in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in Sidon and fled to Syria together with other suspects, media reports said on Thursday.

A ministerial committee tasked with handling the file of displaced Syrians in Lebanon will convene on Thursday to study an outline prepared by the ministries of interior, foreign and the displaced affairs in cooperation with a work group of the Prime Minister, al-Mustaqbal daily reported.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved bipartisan legislation Wednesday to block the flow of money to Hizbullah and to sanction the Iran-backed group for allegedly using civilians as "human shields" during the 2006 war with Israel, describing Hizbullah as Tehran's "leading terrorist proxy."

The measures were approved by voice vote.

A delegation of European Union ambassadors on Wednesday visited the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The delegation was composed of the ambassadors and representatives of the European Union and Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Wednesday that Washington will take “deterrent” measures against Hizbullah.

Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Mnuchin said the United States and its allies in the region will discuss a host of measures in the coming period.

A police raid against unlicensed street vendors in Beirut's southern suburbs has caused a rare public expression of anger in a stronghold of Hizbullah.

The raid early Wednesday in the Hay el-Sellom neighborhood was carried out by the Internal Security Forces, which used bulldozers to take down shacks where vendors mainly sold coffee and mobile phones.

Foreign Minister and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Wednesday accused Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq of “impeding” the upcoming parliamentary elections, as a ministerial panel tasked with studying the implementation of the complex electoral law held a futile meeting.

“Three forces are obstructing the electoral law: the one who is impeding the organization of the elections, or the interior minister, those who are accusing us of corruption, theft and shady deals over the issue of voting cards, and those who are demanding the pre-registration of voters,” Bassil said after the ministerial committee's meeting at the Grand Serail.