China offered $16 million in humanitarian assistance Thursday for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan as part of Beijing's growing engagement with the Arab world.

The assistance will go to displaced Syrians sheltering in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon, President Xi Jinping was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc noted on Thursday the “maturity” demonstrated by the government in confronting the various challenges facing Lebanon, namely the vacuum in the presidency.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The government must play a role in speeding up the process of electing a president.”

The U.S. embassy revealed on Thursday that Washington is providing more than $51 million to the World Food Program and Non-Governmental Organizations in Lebanon, the highest amount in terms of assistance provided to countries neighboring war-torn Syria.

In a series of tweets, the embassy said that “the U.S. is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance to Syrians through the U.N. broad network, no matter where they reside or have sought refuge.”

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil accomplished the state's 2014 budget draft-law in an attempt to control the government's spending.

“The budget draft-law is an urgent need to control the state's spending,” Khalil said in comments published in As Safir newspaper on Thursday.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat briefed head of the Kataeb Party Amin Gemayel on the latest consultations to resolve the presidential deadlock.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Thursday, Aoun, who visited Gemayel to offer his condolences over the death of his sister Claude, briefed the Phalange leader on his meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri regarding the presidential crisis.

A delegation from the Maronite institutions visited on Thursday Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to brief him on the result of its talks with the country's top Maronite political leaders on the country's presidential crisis, stressing that the vacuum contradicted the National Pact.

Following its meeting with al-Rahi in Bkirki, the delegation issued a statement saying the failure to elect a president and the continued presence of the government contradicted the 1943 power-sharing agreement and abolished the Maronite president.

Speaker Nabih Berri urged the United States to play a “fair and balanced role” in managing the dispute between Lebanon and Israel over the two countries' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

According to As Safir newspaper published on Thursday, Berri called on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a meeting between the two officials to seek to carry out a balanced role between Lebanon and Israel “if the U.S. was interested to become an investor in the Lebanese offshore oil in the future.”

Supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad opened fire in the air and launched fireworks in several Lebanese regions as his expected election victory was officially announced on Wednesday evening, as others roamed the streets in convoys.

“Gunfire erupted in some of Beirut's suburbs and central Bekaa towns in celebration of Assad's win,” LBCI television reported.

Armed clashes erupted Wednesday between two families in the Bekaa town of Hermel, sparking panic among the residents of the region.

“Clashes with light- and medium-caliber weapons broke out between members of the Allaw and Nassereddine clans over familial disputes,” state-run National News Agency reported.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee on Wednesday declared a general strike at all ministries and public institutions on June 9 and 10, holding “the MPs who obstructed legislation for several months” responsible for a possible postponement of official school exams.

Following a meeting at the headquarters of the association of state-run secondary school teachers, the SCC called on “the MPs who are expressing keenness on students and refusing that they be taken hostage to take part in the June 10 parliamentary session and approve the new wage scale draft.”