Beirut MP and ex-interior minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Friday lashed out at Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, accusing him of “sabotaging balance in the country.”

“This deterioration in the issue of the balance of powers must stop and the issue must be settled by those concerned with it. If we go back to the remarks that were voiced against (Prime Minister Saad) Hariri, (Speaker Nabih) Berri, (Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid) Jumblat, (Lebanese Forces leader Samir) Geagea and others, where would that take the country?” Mashnouq warned after meeting Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan at Dar al-Fatwa.

President Michel Aoun on Friday said that approving the country’s 2019 state budget helps achieve financial regularity, which will be given priority in the upcoming draft budget of 2020.

Kataeb party chief Sami Gemayel on Friday criticized the 2019 state budget saying it will trigger an “economic stagnation” and affect the people’s “purchasing power.”

Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed at the Mecca Summit that Arab solidarity remains the strongest weapon in the hands of Arabs, Hariri’s press office said in a press release on Friday.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement on Thursday blasted the Military Court's acquittal of Internal Security Forces Lt. Col. Suzanne al-Hajj in the case of “fabricating a spying for Israel case for theater actor Ziad Itani.”

Mustaqbal secretary-general Ahmed Hariri slammed the ruling as “politicized, vengeful and spiteful.”

The Military Court on Thursday acquitted Internal Security Forces Lt. Col. Suzanne al-Hajj and sentenced the hacker Elie Ghabash to a year in prison in the case of “fabricating a spying for Israel case for theater actor Ziad Itani.”

The court, however, sentenced Hajj to two months in jail -- which can be substituted by a LBP 200,000 fine -- on charges of "withholding information."

Parliament has received the draft 2019 state budget and the head of the finance parliamentary committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan has called for a session at 10:30 am Monday, the National News Agency said on Thursday.

Committee members will discuss the budget's arguments and a law to extend extra-budgetary spending, NNA said.

The Ministry of Economy has launched a control campaign in the area of Furn el-Shebbak closing down illegal stores.

Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun affirms that any clash between the Lebanese army and Hizbullah “is out of question,” noting that Hizbullah is a basic “Lebanese component,” al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday.

The Israeli army on Thursday said it destroyed the final cross-border tunnel allegedly dug by Hizbullah into the Israeli territory.