Israel said on Tuesday that U.S. back-channel negotiations between the Lebanese and Israeli sides to solve the dispute over maritime borders have delayed exploration for oil and gas.”

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said that “suggestion of new ideas proposed through the US back-channel talks to mediate a maritime dispute between Israel and Lebanon have complicated operations for gas and oil exploration.”

Israeli airstrikes have reportedly hit military positions of Hizbullah in Syria’s western region of Qalamoun, Sky News Arabia reported on Tuesday.

The demarcation of Lebanon’s southern border was the focal point of a meeting held Monday at Baabda Palace between President Michel Aoun,Speaker Nabih Berri, PM-designate Saad Hariri, General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and head of the Lebanese military delegation participating in the tripartite meetings held in Naqoura Brigadier General Amin Farahat and Brigadier General Ruli Fares.

The outcome of ongoing negotiations conducted between Lebanon and Israel through the United Nations was presented in order to address 13 disputed border points of the "Blue Line", al-Joumhouria daily said.

Several parliamentary blocs dismayed by a decree reportedly signed by President Michel Aoun granting Lebanese citizenship to foreigners, have headed to the Interior Ministry on Monday to request a copy of the decree.

A Kataeb delegation led by MP Nadim Gemayel said after leaving the ministry that Kataeb is requesting a copy to get acquainted with the names listed under that decree, in light of the “ambiguity” surrounding the issue, said Gemayel.

Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali visited caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Monday at the ministry where he presented an amended copy of a Syrian property law that raised Lebanon’s concerns, as he assured that Syria-Lebanon coordination “necessary for return of Syrian refugees.”

The Internal Security Forces announced on Monday the detention of several individuals of foreign nationalities belonging to an international criminal organization that smuggles large amounts of cocaine into Lebanon.

In a statement released on Monday, the ISF said “after thorough monitoring, a group of foreign nationals belonging to a criminal organization specialized in smuggling large amounts of cocaine to Lebanon were arrested.”

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said during an Iftar held by al-Mustaqbal Movement on Sunday in Beirut that the world is waiting for the implementation of reforms in Lebanon which eventually fall in country’s interest.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed that forming the Cabinet sooner than Eid al-Fitr falls in the country’s favor in light of the “massive challenges and crises facing Lebanon and the economic situation,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.

A controversial naturalization decree granting Lebanese citizenship to foreigners has reportedly been “blamed on Free Patriotic Movement Jebran Bassil and former head of the premier’s office Nader Hariri,” the Kuwaiti Asseyasah daily reported Sunday.

Syria has amended a controversial property law criticized by several Lebanese officials as “hindering the return of 1.5 million Syrian refugees who have sought refuge in Lebanon.”

Syria amended the law to allow people a year instead of a month to prove ownership of land seized for development, the foreign minister said Saturday.