As reports emerge that the government might cut financial benefits for public sector employees, MP Shamel Roukoz said that servicemen are not responsible for the country’s budget deficit or the waste of public money, stressing that there are others areas to recover funds.

A few days before the weekly cabinet meeting scheduled to start in Baabda to begin discussions of the 2019 draft budget law, a meeting was held at the Presidential Palace reportedly to "review pensions and compensations of the public sector," media reports said on Monday.

The Higher Defense Council convened at the behest of President Michel Aoun, with the participation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the concerned ministers, and chiefs of military and security apparatus, said the National News Agency.

Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat criticized the Foreign Minister’s call to cut wages of the government employees as part of austerity measures, and noted that his recent conflict with Hizbullah arose over the place of a meeting scheduled between the two, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

The northern city of Tripoli prepares for its by-elections on Sunday with Prime Minister Saad Hariri touring the city encouraging people for a massive turnout.

Economy and Trade Minister Mansour Bteish pursues his visit to Washington leading a Lebanese delegation for meetings with World Bank and International Monetary Fund officials, media reports said on Saturday.

Israeli warplanes conducted mock air raids over the southern city of Sidon after firing missiles overnight towards Syria from Lebanon’s airspace, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

As Lebanon marks the 44th anniversary of its civil war, Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan said “to push away the specter of war Lebanon has to keep on empowering the capabilities of its military and security services.”

President Michel Aoun president has told a visiting American delegation that Beirut rejects the U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights because it includes Lebanese areas annexed by Israel.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said “things are turning for the better” in the country and that his talks with President Michel are very “reassuring.”

Head of the Finance and Budget Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan assured from Washington after meeting with Marshall Billingslea, the U.S. Treasury’s assistant secretary on terror financing, that “no new sanctions on Lebanese officials,” the National News Agency reported on Friday.