Lebanese Forces MP Fadi Karam on Monday said the current week will be decisive at the level of electoral negotiations among political parties in preparation for the upcoming elections in May, the National News Agency reported.

“The LF is holding consultations with the Free Patriotic Movement and al-Mustaqbal Movement to assess electoral coalition chances,” the lawmaker told VDL (93.3) radio.

President Michel Aoun met on Monday at Baabda Palace with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, affirming Lebanon's readiness to “defend itself” against Israel's violations, the National News Agency reported.

“Lebanon is keen on maintaining stability and calm in South Lebanon, but it is also ready to defend itself shall Israel carry out an assault,” Aoun told Lacroix.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Monday said "Lebanon's major problem" lies in the existence of illegal "weapons” and their effect on the country's state decisions, pointing out that a motion will be raised after the parliamentary elections to put these arms under the state's authority, Asharq al-Awsat daily reported on Monday.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri received a phone call at noon Sunday from British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, the premier's office said.

Talks tackled "the bilateral relations and the regional developments as well as the ongoing preparations for the Rome conference for supporting the army and security forces and the CEDRE conference in Paris for backing investment in Lebanon," Hariri's office said.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan and representatives of Lebanon's religious communities arrived Sunday in Vienna to take part in a religious dialogue conference.

Lebanon's Foreign Ministry on Sunday expressed "regret and deep sorrow" over the murder of Lebanese young man Hassan Ali Kheireddine in the Canadian region of Halifax.

An unknown individual hurled a hand grenade Sunday in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in south Lebanon, the National News Agency said.

NNA said the incident in the camp's al-Ras al-Ahmar neighborhood did not cause any casualties.

Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc leader MP Walid Jumblat, lashed out on Saturday at U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion of arming school teachers to deter mass shootings after a gun rampage that killed 17 people at a Florida high school.

In a dialogue with university students held at Lebanon's parliament in Nejmeh Square on Saturday, Speaker Nabih Berri voiced calls for “a constitutional uprising, the development of the electoral system and lowering the voting age to 18.”

Lebanon's upcoming parliamentary elections will be “an exceptional historic opportunity to fortify the options and walk in the direction of building a state of institutions and effective partnership,” said senior Hizbullah official Nabil Qaouq on Saturday.