On August 1, 2023, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded a contract to RTI International, a nonprofit research institute and leading international development organization, to implement the new five-year $96.9M Quality Instruction Towards Access and Basic Education Improvement (QITABI) 3 to support Lebanon’s education system.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) and the Center for Educational Research and Development (CRDP), USAID’s QITABI 3 will improve literacy, numeracy, social and emotional learning (SEL), and inclusive education outcomes for students nationwide. The project will also provide life skills and career guidance to students at the intermediate and secondary levels.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who had arrived Thursday in Beirut, met Friday with Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.

On Thursday, upon his arrival to Beirut's airport, Abdollahian said he will urge the Lebanese officials for a swift election of a president, adding that the Lebanese must choose their president themselves.

MP Sethrida Geagea of the Lebanese Forces bloc on Friday said that Speaker Nabih Berri is “insisting that he will not call for a presidential election session unless there is a prior agreement.”

“This stance in itself is a major constitutional violation, seeing as the constitution does not stipulate consensus but rather election,” Geagea said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has welcomed the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate despite Lebanon’s reservations over the text of the resolution which was passed on Thursday.

The text "takes into account a key element requested by Lebanon, concerning the role of UNIFIL to operate 'in coordination with the Lebanese government,'" he noted in a statement.

Rainbows, school books, movies and drag shows have all been targeted in Lebanon in recent weeks as politicians, religious leaders and vigilante groups step up a campaign against the LGBTQ+ community in a country that has long shown relative tolerance.

At a time when Lebanon is in the grips of one of the world's worst economic meltdowns in more than a century, the country and its leaders have been deeply split on how to deal with the crisis. Political factions have been so divided they haven't been able to choose a new president for 10 months.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday called on the heads of parliamentary blocs and political parties to participate in “dialogue in parliament for seven days at most in September” before going to “open-ended sessions to elect a president.”

“The presidential vote cannot take place through imposing a candidate or paralyzing state institutions. Is it a crime to call for consensus and dialogue?” Berri added, in a speech marking the 45th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr.

UNIFIL term extended, resolution mentions undeclared patrols

The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Thursday demanding that Lebanon guarantee freedom of movement for the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, "including by allowing announced and unannounced patrols."

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein on Thursday visited south Lebanon where met with UNIFIL chief Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz and toured the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, LBCI television said.

The U.N. Security Council overnight failed to agree a resolution for extending the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another year, as France reportedly presented a new draft that drops changes requested by Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived Thursday in Beirut after a short visit to Damascus.

"The Lebanese must choose a president and we will urge the Lebanese officials for a swift election," Abdollahian stated from Beirut's airport upon his arrival.