U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea on Sunday described the judicial ruling issued against her by Judge Mohammed Mazeh and the controversy surrounding it as a “tempest in a teapot.”

Speaking in an interview with LBCI television, Shea said the ruling carried an “element of defensiveness,” describing it as “unhelpful and unnecessary.”

The U.S. State Department has reacted, after a Lebanese judge banned media from reporting remarks by the U.S. ambassador after she spoke about Hizbullah.

"Hizbullah's attempt to silence the Lebanese media is pathetic. To even think to use the judiciary to silence freedom of speech and freedom of the press is ludicrous. We stand with the Lebanese people and against Hizbullah's censorship," the Department said in a statement.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling expressed his belief on Saturday that the current situation in Lebanon is worrying and that the long-awaited economic reforms are more necessary than ever.

Democratic Gathering bloc MP Bilal Abdullah said on Saturday that reports emerged lately about smuggling of medicine subsidized by the Central Bank into Syria, adding a “new source to drain the country’s economy.”

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that “there is no reason yet to expect a breakthrough for the economic crisis in Lebanon,” media reports said.

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi on Friday said authorities possess “certain and confirmed information that foreign interference and financial support are behind the acts of vandalization.”

In an interview with al-Manar TV, Fahmi said the “corruption” of those carrying out the rioting has “spared us a major disaster.”

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh announced Friday that Banque du Liban has no ability to control the currency black market while downplaying the size of its transactions.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea on Friday accused Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of threatening Lebanon’s stability and his party of preventing a solution for Lebanon’s dire economic and financial crisis.

Lebanon on Friday recorded a significant uptick in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday scoffed at the outcome of the dialogue meeting held Thursday in Baabda, after the dollar reportedly reached a new high on the black market.