Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said after meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, that the Pope is willing to visit Lebanon but after Lebanese leaders form a government, noting that parties obstructing the formation “are known to the Vatican.”

“The Pope wants to visit Lebanon but after a government is formed. This is an important message for us to speed the government formation. The Pope perceives Lebanon as a message of mederation,” said Hariri in remarks to reporters after his meeting with the Pope.

Head of the British Embassy Martin Longden signed a MOU with Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces leadership, and affirmed continuity of UK cooperation that anchors trust and strengthens the resilience of the ISF.

Pope Francis met Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican where talks highlighted the role that the Vatican can play to help Lebanon, the press office of Hariri said in a statement on Thursday.

Discussions highlighted “Lebanon’s historic relations with the Holy See, and the role that the Vatican can play to help Lebanon face its crises,” added the statement.

Caretaker Minister of Agriculture Abbas Mortada gave directives to specialized teams at the ministry on Thursday to be prepared for possible swarms of locusts seen in neighboring Syria.

Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli made "surprising" remarks about the Presidential term of Michel Aoun saying “the term did not achieve the desired outcome,” after which he was reportedly “ousted” from his Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri arrived Wednesday evening in Rome for talks with Pope Francis and top Italian officials.

A statement issued by Hariri’s press office said the PM-designate will meet the pope on Thursday morning.

Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil announced Wednesday that the FPM will “fight till the end until the government’s formation,” during a visit to Bkirki at the invitation of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

“We know that right will win in the end and that the truth is what saves peoples in the eras of major crises… We know that the sacrifices will be big,” Bassil said, ahead of meeting the patriarch.

The Free Patriotic Movement on Wednesday condemned what it called security forces’ “assault on peaceful demonstrators” during the entry of Judge Ghada Aoun into the Mecattaf money exchange firm in Awkar.

In a statement, the FPM said the protesters were present on the public road and that they “did not attack public or private property and did not assault any of the security forces.”

A powerful explosion has taken place at a sensitive defense factory during a test in central Israel, causing no casualties, Israeli media reports said.

The explosion occurred during a “routine test” by the Tomer factory for advanced weapons, which develops rocket engines, the Ofek satellite launchers and houses various types of missiles, the website of Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun managed Wednesday to enter the offices of the Mecattaf money exchange firm in Awkar, after bringing workers to break open a metallic gate, as minor scuffles erupted outside between her supporters and the Internal Security Forces.

Al-Jadeed TV said metal workers who left the firm confirmed that they managed to break open “the internal gate leading to the room containing the data.”