Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil emphasized on Thursday his determination to go ahead with increasing the inspection methods at Beirut Port.

He declared during a press conference: “No one can defy the authority of the state in its mission to achieve reform.”

German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Mueller vowed on Thursday to increase assistance to Lebanon to help it confront the burden of Syrian refugees.

In the past three years, Germany granted 850 million euros to the countries hosting the refugees, with 250 million euros to Lebanon alone, Mueller said following talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.

The Military Tribunal issued on Thursday arrest warrants against 17 Lebanese on charges of belonging to the Islamic State extremist group.

Judge Fadi Sawan issued the warrants against the suspects, six of whom are in custody.

Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora filed a complaint against Arab Tawhid Party leader and former minister Wiam Wahhab over remarks accusing the lawmaker of belonging to the “Israeli project” in the region.

The state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday that Saniora briefed General Prosecutor Samir Hammoud on the context of Wahhab's statements during a televised interview, stressing that he reserves the right to file a lawsuit against the former minister.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to issue a new statement to confirm its unanimity to safeguard Lebanon and its stability in face of the growing terrorist threats as U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag is set to head to Saudi Arabia and Iran to reach a breakthrough on the presidential stalemate.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Thursday, U.N. Assistant-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet and Kaag briefed the Security Council's five permanent members -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France – during a closed meeting on U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's report on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas has said that Lebanon will ask the international community for 2.1 billion dollars in assistance at the Kuwait donors conference this month.

Derbas, who on Wednesday attended a ministerial meeting for the refugee crisis cell under Prime Minister Tammam Salam, told al-Liwaa newspaper that Lebanon aims to urge the assistance to help it resolve problems linked to the displaced Syrians on the course of two years.

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh downplayed on Thursday Washington's concerns on the possibility of involving Lebanese banks in money laundering operations to finance terrorism, in particular the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“Lebanon's banks are fortified due to the strict measures imposed by the Central Bank and the monitoring bodies,” Salameh stressed in comments published in al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

Defense Minister Samir Moqbel signed on Thursday a decree to extend the term of Army Intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Edmond Fadel, which ends on March 20.

The decree extends Fadel's term by six months, media reports said.

The U.N. envoy for global education called Wednesday for a multimillion-dollar fund to provide education for children in emergencies and urged donors to start with $163 million to educate half a million Syrian children who are refugees in Lebanon.

Gordon Brown told a news conference Wednesday that it's time for decisive action to prevent millions of children from falling through the cracks and losing out on an education.

Al-Mustaqbal movement and Hizbullah on Wednesday declared that dialogue is an “essential pillar” for protecting Lebanon, following days of verbal escalation between the two parties.

“The conferees emphasized the seriousness of dialogue, seeing as it is an essential pillar to preserve Lebanon's stability and protect it from what is happening in the region,” the two parties said in a joint statement issued after their eighth dialogue session in Ain al-Tineh.