The Central Bank of Lebanon said in a statement on Thursday that it formed a committee to restructure Lebanon's financially hit commercial banks.

Under the title The Revolution is Ongoing, a number of the October 17 uprising activists and prominent figures in Lebanon launched the National Civil Front aimed at finding “scientific means to help solve Lebanon’s crises and assure that the uprising is ongoing,” media reports said.

A number of activists, opinion leaders, academics, judges, former ambassadors and retired officers of the October 17 uprising, met on Wednesday and launched the National Civil Front as a "comprehensive national framework to coordinate efforts in order to achieve the revolution's demand."

Speaker Nabih Berri reportedly sees that Lebanon “must improve” its contacts with Arab states, despite the latter’s reluctance to provide any help for the crisis-hit nation without substantial reforms, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim held talks Wednesday with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari, following a visit to Kuwait to explore the possibility of economic assistance.

Lebanon on Wednesday recorded a new surge in the number of its confirmed coronavirus cases.

In its daily statement, the Health Ministry said 68 residents and 23 expats had tested positive for coronavirus over the past 24 hours.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Wednesday met President Michel Aoun in Baabda, following resounding calls that the spiritual leader voiced in recent days for turning Lebanon into a “neutral” country.

“Neutrality brings stability and growth and it would pull us out of the state that we are in today and of poverty and hunger,” al-Rahi told reporters after the talks.

Defence officials in Armenia and Azerbaijan said there had been no new fighting on their border overnight Wednesday, after several days of deadly clashes raised fears of a major flare-up.

‎Political circles in Lebanon await to see whether the term of UNIFIL forces operating in southern Lebanon will be renewed in implementation of international resolution 1701, amid international and regional conflicts threatening heightened tension between the U.S. and Iran and its “strategic ally Hizbullah,” Asharq el-Awsat reported on Wednesday.

The UNIFIL extension coincides with the expected ruling on July 22 of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005.

Facing a worsening economic crisis and with little chance of Western or oil-rich Arab countries providing assistance without substantial reforms, Lebanon's cash-strapped government is looking east, hoping to secure investments from China that could bring relief.

But help from Beijing risks alienating the United States, which has suggested such a move could come at the cost of Lebanese-U.S. ties.

The Gulf’s stance towards Lebanon’s economic crisis is “not clear yet” after recent meetings held by General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim in Kuwait and Qatar, but it was reportedly affirmed that none of the Gulf countries plan to deposit funds at Lebanese banks, al-Akhbar daily reported on Wednesday.