Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said in an interview that his party has the ability to replace the Free Patriotic Movement as the leading Christian group in the country through the upcoming parliamentary elections.

“On the Christian level, I will say it like this for the first time: is the LF a substitute to the FPM? Yes! And I openly and loudly say it. Yes it is an alternative because the LF’s practices are totally opposite to the practices that we saw from the FPM while in power,” Geagea told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Monday, after meeting with Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit in Egypt, that he wants Lebanon to be an active member of the Arab League.

"Today, Lebanon is suffering from a disease. It must in its illness turn to friends and this is what we are doing today,” al-Rahi added.

President Michel Aoun re-invited Monday Pope Francis to visit Lebanon, urging him to continue supporting Lebanon, during a visit to the Vatican city.

"Lebanon is in dire need for support," Aoun said in a meeting with the Pope, adding that he does not want Lebanon to "pay the price" for the region's conflicts.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati has said Lebanon can not be isolated from its neighboring Arab countries, welcoming a humanitarian French-Saudi initiative.

A French-Saudi fund had been decided in a meeting between Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, Miqati told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, in remarks published Monday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea snapped back Monday at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, after the latter said that “anyone who allies with the LF would be allying with the killers of the Tayyouneh ambush martyrs.”

“These remarks are wrong, seeing as all of the Military Court’s preliminary and complementary investigations have so far proven that there was no ambush in Tayyouneh. Unfortunately, Sayyed Nasrallah and his group are the ones who objected against the judge and obstructed the investigation, the same as they did in the port crime. I wish they would let the probe continue in order to unveil all the facts,” Geagea said.

Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on Monday filed charges against Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, accusing him of illicit enrichment and money laundering, TV networks said.

She also filed charges against Salameh’s brother Raja, who is in custody, and against Ukrainian national Anna Kosakova for interfering in the alleged offenses.

The head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, on Sunday admitted that the upcoming parliamentary elections will be a “very difficult” challenge to his party.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday said he discussed the thorny issue of Hizbullah’s weapons in a meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

“We talked about the issue of Hizbullah’s arms, which is not in the hands of the Lebanese anymore, and had there been a defense strategy, a part of the problem would have been solved,” al-Rahi said in an interview with Lebanon’s MTV.

Cabinet held an emergency session Saturday to discuss the growing standoff between the banking sector and some judges, after unprecedented measures were taken against some banks in recent days and weeks.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has dismissed the reports about the presence of Hizbullah fighters in Ukraine as "mere rumors and lies."