In light of continued assurances that Lebanon's parliamentary elections will be staged on time, Lebanon's Cabinet convened on Thursday to look into several problematic files as parties remained divided over whether to issue biometric voter cards or initiate pre-registration of voters for the May 2018 polls.

Briefing reporters after the session, Information Minister Melhem Riachi said the Cabinet approved a book of conditions for organizing a call for tenders for setting up waste thermal disintegration plants, in addition to projects related to the Costa Brava and Bourj Hammoud landfills.

Fugitive militant Shadi al-Mawlawi has reportedly left his hideaway in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in Sidon and fled to Syria together with other suspects, media reports said on Thursday.

A ministerial committee tasked with handling the file of displaced Syrians in Lebanon will convene on Thursday to study an outline prepared by the ministries of interior, foreign and the displaced affairs in cooperation with a work group of the Prime Minister, al-Mustaqbal daily reported.

A police raid against unlicensed street vendors in Beirut's southern suburbs has caused a rare public expression of anger in a stronghold of Hizbullah.

The raid early Wednesday in the Hay el-Sellom neighborhood was carried out by the Internal Security Forces, which used bulldozers to take down shacks where vendors mainly sold coffee and mobile phones.

Lebanon's Foreign Ministry said the abduction incident of three Lebanese nationals in Iraq's Baghdad is being followed up closely in a manner that suits the safety of the abductees, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun held talks in Washington with the US Army Gen. Joseph Votel, head of US Central Command in the presence of senior military and civil officials, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Votel congratulated General Aoun on the huge victory achieved by the Lebanese army during the Dawn of the Outskirts offensive that led to ousting the Islamic State militants from the area, NNA added.

Lebanese delegations are expected to travel to Russia next week as part of talks initiated by Prime Minister Saad Hariri with the Russian leadership to provide Lebanon's military with “quality weapons”, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Wednesday.

Russian diplomatic sources told the daily “Russian authorities are preparing to receive a Lebanese security delegation from the ministry of interior, followed by a military delegation from the ministry of defense to start talks on 'quality weapons' that Lebanon needs within the framework of an agreement between Hariri and the Russian leadership.”

Angry owners of illegal coffee vending vehicles and kiosks in the southern suburb of Hay el-Sellom burned tires on Wednesday protesting the state's removal of their unauthorized structures, the State-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim will reportedly head to Syria on Wednesday to discuss a number of “pending” files between the two countries, expressing readiness to carry out any “coordination mission” with Damascus mandated to him by the Lebanese cabinet as for the displaced issue, al-Joumhouria daily reported.

Ibrahim is expected to “meet with Syrian officials and conduct a comprehensive review with them on all pending issues between the two countries, especially the security files related to the kidnapped and the extradition of Lebanese detained by Syrian authorities,” said the daily.

The U.N. children's agency said Tue that Australia has granted it 30 million Australian dollars, or about $23 million, to boost access to education for vulnerable children in Lebanon over the next three years.

A UNICEF statement said the announcement was made during Australian Governor-General Peter Cosgrove's visit to a Lebanese public school.