Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said that the country's 2017 draft state budget will soon be ratified and promulgated, as he stressed keenness on maintaining the country's monetary stability, al-Joumhouria daily reported Saturday.

“The State budget will soon be ratified and published. The cabinet has sent a request adding an article that allows us to publish it as soon as it is approved,” said Khalil to the daily.

President Michel Aoun stressed during a meeting with US Central Command, General Charles Brown at the Baabda Palace, that Lebanon is continuing its efforts to combat terrorism and pursue sleeper cells, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

"Lebanon is continuing to fight terrorism after liberating its eastern border from the Islamic State group," said Aoun, pointing out that "the current efforts are focused on pursuing sleeper cells and arresting their members."

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Friday that the parliament is supposed to convene next week so as to approve the draft laws related to the wage scale agreed during Friday's cabinet meeting.

Minister of Information Melhem Riachi said on Friday that it is the "duty of Christians" to look beyond worldwide extremism and to opt for real peace with Muslim partners, the National News Agency reported.

After four cabinet meetings dedicated to address the controversial wage hike crisis, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Friday that the cabinet has reached an agreement on the issue.

Hariri announced that the “cabinet has agreed on an expedited draft law that includes tax adjustments,” noting that “it will be referred to the parliament.”

After the cabinet agreed on Thursday to pay the salaries according to the new wage hikes, the Lebanese Forces emphasized the need to secure revenues to fund the scale for future disbursement of salaries to “prevent financial deterioration,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

Firebrand Islamist cleric Ahmed al-Asir was on Thursday sentenced to death in the case of the 2013 Abra clashes as pop star-turned-Islamist militant Fadel Shaker was sentenced in absentia to 15 years of hard labor.

The court also sentenced to death two other defendants and five Islamists who remain at large, including the cleric's brother Amjad.

The Cabinet on Thursday reached a solution to the wage hike crisis after “very positive” deliberations and another session will be held Friday to put the final touches, the information minister said.

“President Michel Aoun briefed the Cabinet on the outcome of his visits to New York and France, as Prime Minister Saad Hariri demonstrated the stages that followed the approval of the new wage scale all the way to the Constitutional Council's ruling,” Information Minister Melhem Riachi told reporters after the session.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and Kataeb party leader Sami Gemayel held separate talks on Thursday with Saudi Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.

An explosion was heard overnight on Thursday in the border region of Akkar in Wadi Khaled wounding one person, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

The blast rocked the border town of al-Hisheh near a Syrian refugee camp in Wadi Khaled shortly after midnight, NNA said.