Lebanon and Syria signed an agreement Friday to transfer more than 300 Syrians from Lebanese prisons to continue serving their sentences in their home country, a step that will likely help improve strained relations between the two neighbors.

The signing came a week after Lebanon's Cabinet approved a treaty with Syria for the transfer of prisoners. The deal was signed at the government headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, by Lebanon's Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri and Syria's Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Friday that Lebanon's army must be given the means to disarm militant group Hezbollah and replace a United Nations peacekeeping force after its mandate ends this year.

On the final stop of a regional tour that has taken him to Syria and Iraq, Barrot was meeting senior officials in Beirut on Friday, with discussions expected to address preparations for a March conference in Paris in support of the Lebanese army.

"They drove us out at gunpoint," says Lebanese citizen Zeinab Qataya, who fled her adopted home in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad and returned to her country to live in a camp built by Hezbollah.

The construction of the Imam Ali Housing Compound has proved controversial, but Lebanese and Syrian families pushed out of villages just over the border in Syria say they now rely on the Iran-backed movement for safety.

Tiny Lebanon sits on one of the largest gold reserves in the Middle East and its government is weighing whether it can use that stockpile to restore a crippled economy while its citizens are looking at gold as a way to protect their battered assets.

Lebanon's economy hobbled into 2026 with ongoing inflation and state decay and no reforms to combat corruption in sight. Its banks collapsed in late 2019 in a crippling fiscal crisis that evaporated depositors' savings and plunged about half its population of 6.5 million into poverty, after decades of rampant corruption, waste, and mismanagement. The country suffered some $70 billion in losses in its financial sector, further compounded by about $11 billion in the 2024 Israeli war.

Top U.S. military officer General Dan Caine met with Rodolphe Haykal this week, a spokesman said Thursday, after a previously planned visit by the Lebanese army commander to Washington was scrapped.

Caine held talks with Haykal on Tuesday and Qatar's defense chief the day before, "reaffirming the importance of the United States' enduring defense relationships in the Middle East," U.S. Joint Staff spokesman Joseph Holstead said in a statement, without providing further details.

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar has held a lengthy meeting with the State Prosecutor Jamal al-Hajjar to coordinate the next steps following Bitar's decision to wrap up the investigation into the case and refer it to the Public Prosecutor's Office for review, paving the way for the issuance of an indictment, a media report said.

Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal held "very good" meeting with U.S. military officials in the United States, sources familiar with the matter said.

In remarks to al-Akhbar newspaper, the sources said Haykal sensed "a clear professional understanding from the military leadership regarding the Lebanese Army's approach" to addressing the issue of weapons in Lebanon.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has again described Lebanon as a “failed state,” noting that “the confessional system does not work.”

“A Maronite president, a Sunni prime minister and a Shia speaker; a 128 parliamentary seats split equally between Islam and Christians; everything is a deadlock,” said Barrack at a seminar organized by the Milken Institute.

Israel is not abiding by the ceasefire as it is still occupying five points in south Lebanon and detaining Lebanese prisoners in Israel, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told CNN.

Salam said the Israeli attacks and violations are undermining the efforts of his government to disarm Hezbollah and expand the state's authority to all Lebanese territory.

Hezbollah is keen on cooperation to achieve the interest of all Lebanese, MP Mohammad Raad said Wednesday after he met with President Joseph Aoun in Baabda.

He added that meetings and talks will continue between Hezbollah and the president to achieve Lebanon's interests. "We are keen on cooperation to achieve the goals of all Lebanese people -- ending the occupation, releasing prisoners, strengthening stability, and the return of our people to their homes and villages," Raad said.