Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri returned Friday to the United Arab Emirates after spending several days in Lebanon during which he delivered the annual February 14 speech and met with a number of politicians and ambassadors.

Hariri, who did not announce a decisive stance regarding participation in the parliamentary elections, is waiting to know the exact date of the elections and is “betting on time and on the continuation of the Arab and international efforts and mediations to lift the Saudi ban on him,” al-Binaa newspaper reported.

The Ministry of State for Administrative Reform; the American University of Beirut (AUB), through its Business Practice and Policy Initiative at the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business; and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Regional Office in Beirut; announced Friday the launch of Y-IMPACT—Youth Involvement in Multi-Level Policy and Community Transformation.

The event took place at the Grand Serail, under the patronage of Dr. Nawaf Salam, president of the Council of Ministers in Lebanon, represented by Dr. Fadi Makki, minister of state for administrative reform.

The ambassadors of the five-nation group -- consisting of the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt, are seriously considering the possibility of postponing the Lebanese parliamentary elections, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Friday.

The daily said it has learned from a senior official that the Quintet's ambassadors are mulling the postponement, amid confusion over how the expatriates will participate, for political considerations unrelated to the controversy surrounding the diaspora vote.

The Israeli military will not withdraw from the so-called “buffer zones” in Lebanon and Syria, amid a shift in "Israel’s" security doctrine, which stipulates the expansion of these "buffer" areas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday.

In a step reflecting a possible new escalation related to the electoral clash, Speaker Nabih Berri has decided to push Abbas Fawaz, the ex-head of the World Lebanese Cultural Union, to nominate himself for the newly-introduced and controversial 16th electoral district in the upcoming parliamentary elections, media reports said.

The Israeli army has ready plans that involve carrying out a preemptive attack on Hezbollah, Israel’s Maariv newspaper has reported, at tensions grow between the U.S., Israel and Iran.

Lebanese ministerial sources meanwhile told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that the Presidency has been conducting local and external contacts since Thursday morning in a bid to keep Lebanon safe from any escalation.

The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc MP Mohammad Raad met Friday with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh, accompanied by a delegation from the Loyalty to Resistance bloc.

“We are keen on Lebanon’s security and stability and the normalcy of life in it, and we are also keen on confronting Israeli occupation so that it leaves our land and our people return to their villages and cities,” Raad said after the meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday tackled Lebanon's situation in his speech at the first meeting of the so-called Board of Peace in Washington.

Contrary to the reports about the dissatisfaction of some countries with the army’s report on the second phase of the arms monopolization plan, all foreign countries are satisfied and have agreed to the report but they are hoping for quick implementation, official sources told al-Liwaa newspaper.

The daily added that President Joseph Aoun and Army chief Rodolphe Haykal have told the five-nation group for Lebanon, known as the Quintet, that the implementation of the army’s plan north of the Litani has started.

Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal has discussed, in a meeting in Yarze with the ambassadors of the Five-Nations Group - the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and France, a preparatory meeting that will be held next week in Egypt before the Lebanese Army support conference that will be held in Paris on March 5.

The meeting in Yarze discussed the importance of enhancing the capabilities of the Lebanese Army, as it moves to its next phase of Hezbollah's disarmament - north of the Litani river.