Relatives of the Beirut port blast victims held a protest for the second day on Friday and blocked traffic in Riad el-Solh highway after a decision that recused judge Fadi Sawwan off the case.

Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat encouraged the Lebanese to take the Covid-19 vaccine amid a nearly low turnout since the inoculation campaign kicked off in Lebanon on Sunday.

The Internal Security Forces arrested three suspects involved in smuggling people through Tripoli’s al-Abdeh shore area to Cyprus, the ISF said in a statement on Friday.

Despite intensifying foreign and Arab calls urging political leaders in Lebanon to speed a much-needed government, “domestic hurdles” stand in the way of any progress, al-Joumhouria daily reported Friday.

The Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz replied to Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s latest remarks saying that Lebanon is going to “tremble,” and Hizbulah will pay a “terrible price" if Israel is forced to enter a military confrontation.

Relatives of the Beirut port blast victims held a protest Thursday and blocked traffic with burning tires outside the Palace of Justice in Beirut after the lead judicial investigator probing the case was removed by the Court of Cassation.

“The blood of our martyrs is still on the ground, so do not turn us into killers! We are willing to take our right with our hand and we will start escalating as of tonight,” a spokesman for the families said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday stressed that Bkirki will not bow in the face of “threats,” in an apparent reference to the latest remarks by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah about the “internationalization” of the Lebanese crisis.

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, met Thursday morning in Doha with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on the occasion of his visit to the Gulf country, Qatar’s news agency said.

The public prosecutor’s office on Thursday approved a request for the release of two Beirut port officials held in connection with the catastrophic August 4 explosion.

The Court of Cassation, headed by Judge Jamal Hajjar, decided to recuse Judge Fadi Sawwan from investigation into the Beirut port blast case, the National News Agency reported Thursday.