Spotlight
Hezbollah's "Iranian drones geographically flew towards the Karish field" on Saturday, "but politically they overflew the Baabda Palace," MP Pierre Bou Assi of the Lebanese Forces said on Monday.
The Lebanese state on Monday distanced itself from the drones that Hezbollah sent Saturday towards the Karish offshore field, saying “any act outside the state’s responsibility” is “unacceptable” and dangerous.
The statement was issued by Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati’s office after the premier met with caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who is close to President Michel Aoun.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati announced Monday that “things are positive” regarding the new government’s formation.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said Sunday that he expects Lebanon and Israel to reach a sea border demarcation agreement in September.
Bou Habib made the announcement in remarks to LBCI television.

Israel's caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday warned that Israel would take any step necessary to "defend" itself, after it shot down three drones launched by Hezbollah a day earlier.
Hezbollah launched the unmanned aircraft toward an area where an Israeli gas platform was recently installed in the Mediterranean Sea. The move appeared to be an attempt by Hezbollah to influence U.S.-brokered negotiations between Israel and Lebanon over their maritime border, an area that is rich in natural gas.

The Israeli army on Saturday said it intercepted three drones launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon that were headed towards an offshore gas field in the Mediterranean, an announcement that was later confirmed by Hezbollah.
"Three hostile drones approaching the airspace in Israel's economic waters have been intercepted," the army said in a statement, adding that the drones were headed towards the Karish gas field.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati announced Saturday that he is "ready to amend" the cabinet line-up he has submitted to President Michel Aoun, while stressing that he will not trigger a clash over the finance portfolio seeing as the newbgovernment's term will be short.

A delegation of Arab foreign ministers and Arab League officials met Saturday with President Michel Aoun in Baabda, shortly before a consultative meeting for Arab foreign ministers that Lebanon hosted.

An Israeli airstrike targeted suspected Hezbollah posts in Syria's coastal Tartus province on Saturday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

PM-designate Najib Mikati, in his capacity as caretaker PM, signed Friday the decree of military and security promotions as he received it from the Finance Ministry.
A week ago, media reports said Speaker Nabih Berri was “still refusing to agree to the promotions of the officers who graduated (from the Military School) in 1994 under the excuse of ‘sectarian imbalance.’”
