The United States announced Friday that it "remains committed to facilitating negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to reach a decision on the delimitation of the maritime boundary."

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil urged Friday for a dignified return of the Syrian refugees to their homeland.

Lebanon has one of the world’s highest numbers of refugees per capita and currently hosts over 1 million Syrians who fled the decade-old conflict. Officials say the influx has cost Lebanon billions of dollars and further damaged its crippled infrastructure while it struggles with a financial meltdown.

French Ambassador Anne Grillo has stressed the uniqueness of Lebanon and its importance to France and to President Emmanuel Macron, as it called for a verdict on the Beirut port blast.

Grillo said that France is contributing to reviving Lebanon through direct and indirect negotiations. She added that France has offered €200 million to Lebanon, since 2020.

MPs Ashraf Rifi, Michel Moawad, Fouad al-Makhzoumi and Adib abdel Massih announced Friday the program of their new parliamentary bloc, Tajaddod.

Rifi demanded the hand over of any illegal "Lebanese or non-Lebanese weapons" to the state, considering that Hezbollah's arms have lost their resistance character.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat suggested Thursday that “the Egyptian gas and the Jordanian electricity will not come in these circumstances.”

“Away from the fantasies of top advisors and the mysterious promises of some major embassies, can the energy portfolio be given to a guaranteed side and a single (power) plant be built, instead of burning the (central bank’s) reserves and eventually running out of them and plunging into the unknown?” Jumblat tweeted.

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel on Thursday lamented that Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah “has once again declared himself president, prime minister and army chief at the same time.”

“He is ensnaring Lebanon’s people in a new adventure whose price they might pay without taking their permission,” Gemayel tweeted, referring to Nasrallah’s threatening of Israel with military escalation if a future deal over the disputed maritime border does not come in Lebanon's favor.

Israeli Energy Minister Karen Elharrar held talks Thursday with visiting U.S. energy mediator Amos Hochstein, in the presence of the head of the Israeli delegation to the indirect negotiations with Lebanon.

“I will continue to work to create an agreement that will protect Israel's strategic and security assets,” Elharrar tweeted after her meeting with Hochstein.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Thursday responded to a new statement issued by the Presidency.

“Mr. Premier appreciates what was mentioned in the presidential statement’s third clause in terms of disavowing the insults that some of the president’s close associates are making… He also lauds Mr. President’s keenness on not insulting the Premiership post,” Mikati’s press office said in a statement.

President Michel Aoun announced Thursday that he is “waiting for a new approach” from PM-designate Najib Mikati in light of the observations he had voiced over the proposed cabinet line-up.

“The dire need today is for a fully constitutional government that can take executive decisions, not for statements and leaks that further complicate things,” the Presidency said in a statement.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said Thursday that a statement by Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has put an end to the possibility of reaching a settlement over the Line 23.

Nasrallah had threatened, in a televised speech on Wednesday, to "flip the table on the entire world" if Lebanon does not get allowed to benefit from its offshore oil and gas resources.