Environment Minister Tarek Al-Khatib criticized the majoritarian 1960 parliamentary electoral law stressing that the entire political parties in Lebanon do not want it to rule the upcoming polls in May.

“ The 1960 law is very bad and all political parties reject it,” he said, adding “We won't accept a last moment 60's- like electoral law.”

Head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said on Saturday that the state made a big achievement by imposing new taxes on big sectors in the economy that are able to bear the burden of new tax impositions

“We were able to make a big achievement by imposing taxes never imposed before on maritime and real estate property and on banks and corporate,” said Bassil after an extraordinary meeting held by the bloc against the backdrop of protests that thwarted a parliament's decision to impose a new batch of taxes to fund a long-stalled wage scale.

Senator Richard Burr led a delegation of five senators including Senators John Cornyn, Marco Rubio, James Lankford, and Tom Cotton on a visit to Lebanon from March 17 to March 18, the US embassy said in a press release on Saturday.

The delegation met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri during their visit and discussed the close relationship and security cooperation between the United States and Lebanon.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea announced that his party will make a suggestion to the cabinet to keep the current's year's state budget the same as last year's and pointed out that his party rejects additional increases in taxes in light of the current circumstances.

MP Ali Fayyad said it is better to appease the people and approve the long-stalled wage scale before the cabinet discusses the sources of funding to cover it, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

The Hizbullah MP told the daily in an interview that he will “suggest holding a legislative session to approve the salary scale in order to appease the employees, and to later discuss the revenue sources to fund it.

The Cabinet on Friday conducted a “very positive” final reading of the draft state budget and a session will be set for approving it after consultations with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced after a Cabinet meeting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel's latest air strikes into Syria targeted weapons bound for Hizbullah, and that it will continue to carry out such raids.

Rory Stewart, the UK Minister of State for International Development visited Lebanon on Thursday and Friday of this week, ahead of the Brussels “Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region” scheduled for 4-5 April.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced Friday that he will call for June 18 parliamentary elections “within two day” after consulting with President Michel Aoun, although the date would coincide with the holy month of Ramadan.

A Lebanese businessman that the U.S. says has provided millions of dollars to Hizbullah has been arrested by Moroccan authorities, his lawyer has confirmed.