Cyprus police have suspended one officer and 11 constables after launching an investigation into how a boat loaded with migrants gave them the slip and continued its journey to Italy after docking at a local harbor.

Police said in a statement Friday that the boat carrying 61 people was intercepted early Wednesday off the Mediterranean island's southern coast and escorted to port in the resort town of Paphos.

President Michel Aoun on Friday told a visiting EU official that Lebanon has “suspicions” that some forces are seeking to “keep” Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

“Lebanon hosts more than 1.5 million displaced Syrians and around 500,000 Palestinian refugees, and this hosting has left numerous repercussions on the Lebanese economy and aggravated the financial, social, educational and health crises it is facing,” Aoun told European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas.

Beirut is the second stop in a series of visits made by European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas to engage with partner countries, which are key in helping the European Union to put a stop to the unscrupulous instrumentalization and weaponization of people by the Lukashenko regime.

"Change is happening," Schinas said, adding that he was in Dubai Thursday and that he was "impressed by the commitment of authorities of the UAE to work with us to put an end to these practices."

Information Minister George Kordahi announced Friday that he would consider resigning if Saudi Arabia offers Lebanon “guarantees” on reversing the measures it has taken since the eruption of the diplomatic row related to his remarks on the Yemen war.

“I’m not clinging to any ministerial post and I don’t want to challenge anyone from my position, neither the premier nor the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which I love,” Kordahi said after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.

United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Dr Najat Rochdi, said that from the end of September, and as part of the Emergency Response Plan launched by humanitarian actors to step up assistance for the most vulnerable populations affected by the on-going crisis in Lebanon, 3.1 million liters of fuel have been provided to 515 critical facilities delivering vital services, including over 195 health facilities and 320 water pumping stations so far.

Rochdi added that “this exceptional fuel distribution to healthcare and water facilities across Lebanon has been ensuring provision of critical health, water and sanitation services to the most vulnerable populations affected by the ongoing energy crisis and preserve lifesaving humanitarian activities in all districts.”

Acting head of the Civil Court of Appeals Judge Habib Mezher has refused to appear before inspection, al-Anbaa newspaper said.

Judicial sources told the Kuwaiti newspaper, in remarks published Friday, that Mezher “cannot give information about a case that he was looking into."

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has announced that he does not want to be part of an “anti-Hizbullah front.”

“I don’t want to join an anti-Hizbullah political front. My (recent) stance was spontaneous and a description of a harsh reality. We are suffocating and we had to scream,” Jumblat said in an interview with French-language daily L’Orient-Le Jour.

The Lebanese government is failing its people, the U.N. envoy on extreme poverty Olivier De Schutter said Friday, warning that the country is on course to becoming a failed state.

A heated argument between President Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Twitter was solved due to high-level talks in the past 24 hours, al-Joumhouria newspaper said Friday.

Aoun said in a tweet Wednesday that “innocents do not fear the judiciary,” and “those who put themselves in the accusation position mustn't blame those who think badly of them.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu is to visit Lebanon next Tuesday as an affirmation of Turkey’s support for the Lebanese government, al-Joumhouria newspaper said Friday.

Al-Joumhouria added that Çavuşoğlu, coming from Iran, will meet with top Lebanese leaders and convey to Prime Minister Najib Miqati an invitation from Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to travel to Ankara, on an official visit.