Army Commander General Joseph Aoun on Thursday inspected troops at the Mohammed Zgheib Barracks in Sidon amid the ongoing deadly clashes in the Ain el-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp on the city’s outskirts.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who had called for a seven-day dialogue, following which open presidential election sessions would be held, said those who rejected his call don't have any convincing reasons or justifications.

"The only explanation is that they don't want to elect a president," Berri said in remarks published Thursday in Tehran-based al-Wifaq Newspaper.

French Special Presidential Envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian resumed Thursday his meetings with Lebanese key players for the third day, by meeting Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkerki.

Le Drian will later meet with the majority of the Sunni lawmakers -- except some MPs including Hezbollah's -- and Saudi Ambassador Walid Bukhari in Yarze.

The 5-nation group on Lebanon -- which comprises the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt-- supports a dialogue proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri to end the presidential impasse, Annahar newspaper said.

Berri had called on the Lebanese parties to engage in seven days of dialogue in parliament followed by open-ended electoral sessions to choose a new president.

French Special Presidential Envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian resumed Wednesday his meetings with Lebanese key players as France seeks to end a political crisis that has left the country without a president for over a year.

Le Drian met Wednesday with former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and incumbent leader MP Taymour Jumblat in Clemenceau, after an earlier meeting with Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and its Islamist rival Hamas have voiced support for the fledgling ceasefire in the Ain el-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp in Sidon, a statement said Wednesday, as Palestine Liberation Organization official Azzam al-Ahmad accused "foreign parties" of stoking the camp's violence.

Clashes have rocked Ain el-Helweh since last Thursday, pitting members of Fatah, which controls most of the camp, against hardline Islamist militants. Hamas has stayed out of the fighting.

The British Embassy Beirut on Wednesday announced that applications for the UK Government’s flagship Chevening Scholarships program are now open. Applicants should apply online via chevening.org/apply by November 7, 2023.

The scholarship, which is now in its 40th year, offers full financial support for scholars to study for any eligible master’s degree at over 150 UK universities whilst also gaining access to a wide range of exclusive academic, professional, and cultural experiences.

The caretaker Cabinet on Tuesday approved the 2024 state budget and submitted it to parliament, with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati calling the move an “achievement.”

“This is the first state budget to be approved within the constitutional timeframe since 2002 and this is a major achievement and heroism,” Mikati said at a press conference.

Hezbollah on Tuesday denied as “false accusations” a media report alleging that party officials are smuggling arms through Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.

“We strongly condemn these cheap fabrications and false accusations and we also deplore the collusion of domestic Lebanese sides who worked on promoting these lies and turning them into judicial complaints against Hezbollah,” the party said in a statement, referring to a report aired by the Saudi-owned al-Hadath TV.

More than 65 military personnel from the British Army’s Second Battalion The Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) will conduct Tuesday a fully integrated combined military exercise ‘Pegasus Cedar’ with their Lebanese counterparts, the Air Assault Regiment, and supported by the Lebanese Air Force. 

The exercise will run for ten days, the British embassy in Beirut said in a statement.