Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has ruled out cooperation with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil in the presidential file, as he warned against electing a president not enjoying the support of the two main Christian parties – the LF and the FPM.

“A president cannot be elected against the will of Christians. If someone believes that they can elect a president against the will of the majority of Christians, then they are mistaken. This is not a way to behave, seeing as everyone knows the reality of constitutional posts,” Geagea said in an interview with Kuwait’s al-Rai newspaper.

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar on Wednesday went to his office at the Justice Palace in Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported.

LBCI television meanwhile reported that Bitar met at the Palace with Higher Judicial Council chief Judge Suheil Abboud with the aim of “finding a certain solution for the Beirut port blast case.”

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will not call for a president election session unless there are serious candidates competing for presidency, MTV said Wednesday.

The media outlet added that Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat have affirmed that MP and presidential candidate Michel Mouawad has no chances of becoming president.

Lebanon shifted Wednesday its long-standing official exchange rate to 15,000 pounds against the dollar, a central bank source said -- an almost 90 percent devaluation amid a years-long economic crisis.

The Lebanese pound has been officially pegged at 1,507 to the greenback since 1997, but its market value began to slide in late 2019 and hit record lows of more than 60,000 this month.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has tried to reach a presidential consensus with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

"We're trying to cross some barriers in order to reach a consensus that would give us hope that a president will be elected," Jumblat said after meeting Berri in Ain el-Tineh.

Braving the bitter cold, Lebanese villagers have been patrolling a mountainside in the country's north, trying to protect trees from loggers who roll in under the cover of darkness. 

Near his village of Ainata, "nearly 150 centuries-old oak trees have been felled" in the past year, said Ghandi Rahme, pointing at the tree stumps in the rocky ground around him.

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lázaro chaired a regular Tripartite meeting at a U.N. position in Ras al-Naqoura on Tuesday.

“Through 2023 we must prioritize maintaining the cessation of hostilities,” he said. “In all our actions we should seek to de-escalate and reduce tensions along the Blue Line.”

The Higher Judicial Council is facing a “real test” and its chief, Judge Suheil Abboud, is “still refusing that a session be held to discuss the latest developments, with the aim of protecting (Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek) Bitar,” judicial sources say.

“During deliberations yesterday with the members of the council, Abboud tried to put Bitar in the same position with (State Prosecutor Ghassan) Oueidat, arguing that both have erred and that Oueidat cannot attend the session,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun has advised Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar to “stay home and not go to the Justice Palace – neither in Beirut nor in Jdeideh -- out of concern that he might get arrested by the State Security agency under the excuse of bringing him to interrogation before the state prosecutor,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“The French have also talked to Bitar on this issue and stressed to him that France is his second country, that his family can travel whenever it wants and that everything such as residence, education and other issues will be provided to them,” the daily added.

Democratic Gathering Bloc chief MP Taymour Jumblat met Tuesday with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkerki.

He was accompanied by a delegation from the bloc.