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.

Lebanon’s new government of PM Hassan Diab “unanimously” approved the Policy Statement during a meeting at Baabda Palace on Thursday, on which it will seek the Parliament’s confidence vote expectantly next week.

Health Minister Hamad Hasan said Wednesday that a Lebanese student who arrived from China is being quarantined at the Rafik Hariri state-run hospital in Beirut despite being “in good health” and showing no symptoms of being infected with the novel coronavirus that has killed 490 people in China.

“The Lebanese student who arrived from China is in good health and is not showing any symptoms,” Hasan told the National News Agency.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday said he has managed to “confirm” that the owners of five Lebanese banks have sent their “personal money” abroad, estimated at $2.3 billion, despite the informal capital controls that have been imposed on depositors since November.

He was speaking during his weekly Ain el-Tineh meeting with lawmakers.

The syndicate of gas station owners on Wednesday threatened to stage a new strike or issue their own price lists if the Energy Ministry does not distribute the losses resulting from the dollar shortage crisis in a fairer manner.

They described the prices list issued this week by the ministry as a “stab in the back.”