Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari met Monday with Higher Islamic Shiite Council deputy chief Sheikh Ali al-Khatib, who became the de facto leader of the council following the death of its former head Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan.

Bukhari also met on Monday with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan and Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea addressed Monday the Shiite voters, urging them not to vote for Hizbullah.

"You have the right to not vote for the LF, but do not vote for those who have dragged you to the deepest level of hell only because you think that the LF is a beast that hates you," Geagea said.

The Progressive Socialist Party will not vote for Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil nor for Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea in the upcoming presidential elections, MP Wael Abu Faour of the PSP has said.

“Bassil will be the candidate of the March 8 forces for the presidency, not Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh,” Abu Faour told LBCI television.

Free Patriotic Movement head Jebran Bassil has said he hasn't discussed the presidential elections with Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh on a Friday meeting hosted by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Bassil said Sunday night, in a TV interview, that he welcomed Nasrallah's invitation and that he has nothing against Franjieh personally.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Boukhari visited Monday Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan at Dar al-Fatwa.

Daryan had announced the visit on Sunday, after having met with al-Boukhari at the Saudi Embassy in Baabda.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday expressed relief over three developments that took place over the past days – the announcement that Pope Francis will visit Lebanon in June, Lebanon’s tentative deal with the International Monetary Fund, and the return of the Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors to Beirut.

“These positive steps coincide with important regional and international developments and we hope the Lebanese state will capitalize on them and employ them exclusively within the national framework,” al-Rahi said in his Palm Sunday sermon.

Israeli warplanes on Saturday carried out an air raid on targets in central Syria from Lebanon’s airspace, Syrian state media said.

Syria’s air defenses managed to shoot down some of the fired missiles, Syrian news agency SANA reported.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah held a meeting overnight with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh, Hizbullah said on Saturday.

A Hizbullah statement said Nasrallah hosted Bassil and Franjieh over a Ramadan Iftar banquet in the presence of a number of senior officials.

Kuwaiti Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul-Al al-Qinai and Saudi Ambassador Walid al-Boukhari returned Friday to Beirut, five months after a row erupted over the Riyadh-led military intervention in Yemen.

Last October, Riyadh had recalled its ambassador and ordered the Lebanese envoy to leave the kingdom within 48 hours. Three other Gulf states -- the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait -- sided with Saudi Arabia and expelled Lebanese envoys.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday referred a much-awaited capital control draft law to the joint parliamentary committees, which will now study it before referring it to parliament’s general assembly.

Berri’s move comes a day after Lebanon and the International Monetary Fund reached a tentative agreement for comprehensive economic policies that could eventually pave the way for financial aid for the crisis-hit country, after Lebanon implements wide-ranging reforms.