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.

A controversial plan to lease power generating vessels will likely worsen the dispute between political parties after it has been put down for voting in the Cabinet, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Opposition figures on Friday accused authorities of pressing a hotel in Beirut to cancel a conference for the National Initiative Movement opposition grouping.

“We had agreed with the administration of the Monroe Hotel in Beirut on holding the general conference of the National Initiative Movement on February 24, 2018 with the participation of around 1,000 invitees from all Lebanese regions,” the movement said in a statement.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed Friday that U.S. sanctions on his party are futile.

“America has failed in its wars on Hizbullah and it will not take through pressure what it has failed to take through aggression,” Qassem said during a ceremony to launch Hizbullah's electoral campaign in the Baalbek-Hermel and Zahle districts.

EU Ambassador to Lebanon Christina Lassen met Friday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss the recent developments in the region and the Parliament's priorities ahead of the elections, an EU Delegation statement said.

Lassen highlighted the potential of the three upcoming support conferences in Rome, Paris and Brussels to support the stability and further economic development of Lebanon. “To maximize the chance of the conferences to succeed and attract public and private sector investments, Ambassador Lassen called to further accelerate the Government's reform program, stressing that it is imperative that economic reforms as well concrete steps to implement Lebanon's dissociation policy are undertaken immediately,” the statement said.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday received a letter from his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

The letter was delivered by Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin.

President Michel Aoun stressed in an interview on the Iraqi Alsumaria TV network on Friday that the current border dispute between Lebanon and Israel “does not allow Israel to cross the border because there is a Lebanese decision to defend these land and sea borders.”

UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti slammed Israeli media reports accusing the peacekeeping forces of failing to carry out their duties, saying the reports are “inaccurate,” the National News Agency reported on Friday.

U.S. sanctions against Hizbullah is back in the spotlight following a proposal reportedly put forward by two U.S. MPs at the House of Representatives for a bill that “increases pressure and sanctions on the party,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

Saudi Arabia is expected to dispatch an envoy to Lebanon to discuss with officials the future of the Saudi-Lebanese relations, thus resuming its “role and interest” in the Mediterranean country after a brief tension in ties following PM Saad Hariri's resignation from Riyadh, reports said on Friday.