Information Minister George Kordahi “will not resign” and “this stance has not changed,” sources close to him said on Thursday, shortly after Prime Minister Najib Miqati reiterated his call for the minister to step down.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday again urged Information Minister George Kordahi to step down over an unprecedented diplomatic rift with Saudi Arabia, saying his resignation would be "a priority."

“I reiterate my call for the information minister to put national interest first,” Miqati said in a speech from the Grand Serail, shortly after he met in Baabda with President Michel Aoun.

President Michel Aoun met Thursday with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Baabda Palace.

Miqati said he discussed with Aoun the current “Lebanese crisis” and added that he will give a speech today in a press conference at the Gand Serail.

Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib met Wednesday with President Michel Aoun in Baabda, hours after Saudi newspaper Okaz published controversial statements attributed to the minister about the already tense relation with Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has described as inaccurate remarks attributed to him by Saudi newspaper Okaz, amid concerns that the leaks could worsen the current diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia.

Okaz meanwhile said it obtained Bou Habib’s remarks through its “private sources” and that the statements were made by Bou Habib during a meeting with a number of journalists.

British Minister for the Middle East and North Africa James Cleverly on Tuesday announced £50m UK funding for the High Impact Partnership on Climate Action (HIPCA).

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) launched HIPCA on 2 November at an event during COP26 in Glasgow.

Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigative judge probing the Beirut port blast, stressed to the families of the victims on Tuesday that “pressures or threats will not push him to back down,” al-Jadeed TV reported.

“I will not back down from the Beirut port file unless I’m removed through the available legal means,” al-Jadeed quoted Bitar as telling the families during a meeting on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati met Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the climate summit in Glasgow.

The meeting was attended by Environment Minister Nasser Yassine and Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Embattled Information Minister George Kordahi has announced that the diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia “has turned into an issue of national dignity.”

“I totally understand and feel the plight of the Lebanese abroad and their fear of any measures that might target them, but the matter has turned into an issue of national dignity,” Kordahi told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Tuesday, in response to a question about possible further escalation by the Gulf countries.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati met Monday with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and the two discussed the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The Qatari leader affirmed that he will dispatch Qatar’s Foreign Minister to Beirut soon to find ways to support Lebanon and to address the Lebanon-Gulf crisis.