The Lebanese government survived Wednesday a vote of confidence proposed by Free Patriotic chief Jebran Bassil during a plenary session in Parliament.

Sixty-nine MPs gave a vote of confidence to the government, nine FPM MPs voted against it, and four MPs abstained.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has described the Lebanese Central Bank’s decision to bar banks and brokerages from dealing with the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Qard Al-Hasan financial institution as a “step in the right direct by the Lebanese government.”

As lawmakers convened Wednesday for the second day in Parliament to debate the government's policies, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed that the government will continue working on extending the state’s authority north and south of the Litani river.

"I have listened to the MPs' views and interventions, and I will take all criticisms seriously. We are determined to continue our work despite the difficulties and obstacles," Salam said, adding that the government is committed to pressure Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territories and stop its aggressions.

The Central Bank of Lebanon has said that licensed financial institutions are "barred from any dealings with unlicensed financial institutions, such as the Al-Qard Al-Hasan Association," the financial arm of Hezbollah.

In a circular, the Central Bank said banks, financial institutions and other institutions licensed by the Central Bank, as well as financial intermediaries and collective investment schemes, are barred from engaging in any transactions -- financial, commercial, or otherwise, directly or indirectly, fully or partially -- with “unlicensed exchange institutions, money transfer companies, associations and entities.”

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan criticized Tuesday the government's lack of progress in restoring the state's authority and disarming Hezbollah as lawmakers convened in a plenary session focused on Hezbollah's disarmament.

"We don't want the government of hope to become a government of missed opportunities," Adwan said.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that Israel’s airstrikes on the Bekaa earlier in the day were a “clear message” to Hezbollah and Lebanon’s government, accusing Hezbollah of plotting to restore its Radwan force’s ground incursion capabilities.

Israeli warplanes on Tuesday carried out strikes on the Wadi Faara area in northern Bekaa, one of them targeting a Syrian refugee camp, killing 12 people, including seven Syrians, and wounding eight others, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

A security source told Reuters that the dead include five Hezbollah fighters.

President Joseph Aoun on Monday pledged to preserve Lebanon’s territorial integrity, in the wake of the storm of controversy sparked by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s latest remarks about Lebanon and Syria.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat urged Monday the Syrian government to find a political solution, after dozens of people were killed in fighting between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters in Syria’s Sweida province.

"We reject calls for external protection and Israeli intervention," Jumblat stated, as he hoped for the return of security and stability to Sweida. "We are in contact with the Syrian government," the Druze leader told local Annahar newspaper.

MP Ibrahim al-Moussawi of Hezbollah said U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s latest remarks about Lebanon risking being swallowed by regional forces were “not surprising at all,” accusing Washington of having “evil plots.”

He added that Barrack’s “bizarre” statement “contradicts with the simplest rules of logic and the principles of politics and diplomacy,” adding that it reflects “dangerous intentions and clearly unveils the features of the American-Zionist scheme planned for the region in general and Lebanon in particular.”