The World Bank approved the re-allocation of $40 million under the current Health Resilience Project (US$120 million) to strengthen Lebanon’s Health Ministry’s capacity to respond to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the WB said in a press release on Thursday.

Lebanon on Thursday filed a U.N. complaint against Israel after its warplanes used Lebanese airspace to fire missiles at targets in Syria’s Homs, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expats has filed a complaint before the U.N. Security Council in New York over the dangerous Israeli violation of Lebanese sovereignty, after three Israeli aircraft bombed Syrian sites from the Lebanese airspace, which represented a threat to Lebanese civilians,” the Ministry said in a statement.

“I saved my conscience,” Prime Minister Hassan Diab said Thursday, in response to a reporter’s question on whether his dropping of financial appointments from Cabinet’s agenda had “saved the government from politics.”

“How can we hire to some posts for high and sometimes fancy salaries as the country goes through a major financial crisis, a dangerous social problem and a scary health crisis?” Diab had said during Cabinet’s session, according to the information minister.

In line with UNIFIL's efforts to assist the host population in "our common fight against COVID-19 Coronavirus in south Lebanon," UNIFIL troop contributing countries have been taking initiatives aimed at providing communities with medical equipment and other supplies available at the U.N. missions's disposal, a UNIFIL statement said.

In the last few days, Italy-led UNIFIL Sector West Command carried out several projects within their area of responsibility, in response to requests from hospitals to be able to receive suspected COVID-19 cases.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced Thursday that the government's expat repatriation plan will be halted should there be a high number of coronavirus infections among the returnees.

President Michel Aoun said on Thursday the repatriation of Lebanese nationals from abroad requires "careful planning to ensure the safety of returnees and their surroundings alike," in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

President Michel Aoun chaired a regular cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace in Baabda on Thursday to tackle several items on the agenda, mainly the controversial senior banking sector appointments which was withdrawn by PM Hassan Diab at the launch of the meeting.

Lebanese authorities have introduced "discriminatory restrictions" exclusively targeting Syrian refugees as part of their response to the coronavirus, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

In light of the current circumstances, taking into consideration the government’s “general mobilization” period and curfew, and because the government services of the Finance Ministry and General Security Directorate (except for the Public Relations Department) have exclusively been provided by LibanPost, all the services listed on our website can now be deposited at our branches listed below from 08:00 AM until 17:00 PM, LibanPost said in a press release.

The Philippines' Ambassador to Lebanon Bernardita Catalla has died of complications from the coronavirus, one of only 16 recorded deaths in the country since the start of the pandemic, media reports said on Thursday.