The U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Najat Rochdi, has announced the start of the delivery of fuel to critical healthcare and water institutions across Lebanon to ensure continuous provision of services to the most vulnerable populations affected by the energy and fuel crisis.

The severe electricity and fuel shortages which have been affecting Lebanon over the past weeks are impeding the provision of essential services, including health care and water, and have resulted in “tremendous additional hardship across all populations,” Rochdi’s office said in a statement.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday met with the Lebanese delegation that recently held indirect sea border negotiations with Israel.

The National News Agency said the meeting was dedicated to “evaluating the course of the negotiations and the next steps after Israel signed evaluation contracts for gas and oil excavation in the disputed area, especially that this step contradicts with the negotiations course.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati traveled Thursday to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Political sources expected positive outcomes from Miqati's visit to France, as “it could pave the way for more visits to Europe and to Arab countries.”

Head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, voiced in a statement Wednesday his support for Judge Tarek al-Bitar, the lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast.

“It is very shameful to threaten one of the most honorable and impeccable judges, in a case of the size of the Beirut port blast and its tragic consequences,” Geagea said.

Former public works minister Youssef Fenianos on Wednesday asked the country's top court to remove the lead judge investigating last year's massive explosion in Beirut's port, Tarek Bitar, because of "legitimate suspicion" over his handling of the case, state media reported.

The development is the latest in a year-long saga surrounding the investigation into the explosion, which plunged Lebanon into another political crisis and accelerated an already unprecedented economic meltdown.

Justice Minister Henri Khoury met Wednesday at the Ministry with Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast catastrophe.

A statement issued by Khoury’s office said the Minister “exclusively asked him about what media outlets have been circulating since yesterday about his personal security.”

The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) has welcomed the formation of the new Lebanese government and parliament’s vote of confidence in the government and its program.

“In line with key provisions of the approved ministerial statement, the ISG urges Lebanon's leaders to move quickly to alleviate the burden of socio-economic hardship on the people of Lebanon and restore basic services, to prepare for fair and transparent elections to take place on time in 2022, and to initiate the critical reforms needed to restore trust and deliver justice, stability and prosperity for the Lebanese people and to pave the way for enhanced international support,” it said in a statement.  

The USNS Choctaw County, an expeditionary fast transport ship affiliated with the U.S. Navy, has arrived in Lebanon for a scheduled visit, the U.S. Embassy said on Wednesday.

"This historic trip, the first visit by a U.S. Naval Ship to a Lebanese naval base, highlights the strong partnership between the United States and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)," the Embassy said in a statement.

UNIFIL has marked the International Day of Peace with a ceremony at its headquarters in Naqoura, south Lebanon.

LBCI TV reporter Edmond Sassine has posted a tweet alleging that Hizbullah official Wafiq Safa has threatened the judge probing the Beirut port blast Tarek Bitar.

"Hizbullah through Wafiq Safa has sent a threatening message to Judge Tarek Bitar," Sassine tweeted.