Kataeb Party leader Sami Gemayel, who is visiting the U.S., has called through MTV for “raising the voice in the face of the hegemony that Iran is practicing on Lebanon through Hizbullah.”

President Michel Aoun met Thursday in Baabda with Prime Minister Najib Miqati to discuss the general situations in the country in light of the latest developments.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo on Thursday relayed a verbal message to President Michel Aoun from his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has described the talks that a U.S. envoy held Wednesday in Lebanon as “more than positive.”

A delegation from the families of the Beirut port blast victims on Wednesday visited Justice Minister Henri Khoury and handed him a letter that was referred, at their request, to the Higher Judicial Council.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein met Wednesday with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Najib Miqati in a bid to rekindle moribund talks over a maritime border dispute between Lebanon and Israel that is holding up oil and gas explorations.

The Presidency said Aoun and Hochstein discussed “the course of the negotiations process regarding the sea border demarcation and the prospects in this file.”

Protesters took to the streets in several Lebanese regions on Wednesday after a major surge in fuel prices, the latest in a series of recent increases.

The U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka said Tuesday that she encourages “the discussion in Parliament of a gender quota in the upcoming elections.”

“Women’s representation in politics is critical for an effective and well-functioning democracy, and ensures that those in elected leadership are more representative of the people they serve. The discussion of a gender quota in the Lebanese Parliament is in line with Lebanon’s commitment to the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, as articulated in the 2019-2022 National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security,” she said in a statement.

Armed clashes have been ongoing since morning in the Akkar town of Wadi al-Jamous, state-run National News Agency reported.

Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Tuesday lamented what he called “a legislative massacre against the electoral law,” after parliament voted to cancel six parliamentary seats for expats stipulated by the 2018 electoral law.