Chairman of the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon (BCCL) Samir Hammoud replied to Speaker Nabibh Berri’s statement on Friday saying that all Lebanese banks, not just five of them, have transferred a total of $2.3 billion to banks in Switzerland after the October 17 uprising.

Extremely tight security measures will be imposed next week when the Parliament convenes on a confidence vote for the new government of PM Hassan Diab, with security officials describing the steps similar to ones taken in a state of emergency, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat lashed out Thursday at Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti over a tweet related to the economic cost of the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

“It seems that the new foreign minister, Mr. Nassif Hitti, likes to detonate large sound bombs in order to rise to the level of his predecessor in exaggeration, not to say well-known racism,” Jumblat tweeted.

Anti-government protesters from several regions gathered in Jounieh Thursday evening to denounce the overnight attack on demonstrators by supporters of MP Ziad Aswad.

The protesters outside the Fouad Chehab Stadium especially condemned an attack on a young protester who hails from Tripoli that was filmed and distributed by Aswad’s supporters.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday called for a Higher Defense Council meeting on Friday morning.

The meeting will tackle “the security situations and developments,” according to the Presidency.

Lebanese politicians on Thursday commented on the overnight clash between anti-government protesters and supporters of MP Ziad Aswad and the Free Patriotic Movement, as well as on a video of the violence that has sparked sectarian and regional tensions.

“The hate speech has been raging for a while and the attacks on the FPM have become recurrent and systematic. We always confront campaigns with awareness and responsibility and we have not persevered for years so that we change our beliefs and approach today,” FPM chief Jebran Bassil said in a tweet.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday scheduled a parliamentary session for February 11-12 to debate Cabinet’s policy statement and vote on confidence in the new government.

The new Cabinet approved the policy statement earlier on Thursday during a meeting at the presidential palace.

Trial Chamber II of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) issued a decision yesterday to proceed with a trial in absentia against Salim Jamil Ayyash, accused in the attacks against Marwan Hamade, Georges Hawi and Elias El-Murr, which occurred in Lebanon on 1 October 2004, 21 June and 12 July 2005, respectively.

Amid nationwide protests ongoing since October 17 and an unprecedented economic crisis in Lebanon, local and national initiatives have intensified recently in a bid to “salvage” Lebanon from collapse, MTV broadcaster reported.

A suspect has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a man in south Beirut's neighborhood of al-Jamous, the Internal Security Forces said in a statement.

A dispute erupted after midnight between two men in a residential building in al-Jamous. The suspect (K.H,) opened gunfire at Firas Samaha killing him instantly and ran away, said ISF in a statement.