Lebanon has deported dozens of Syrians back to the war-torn country they fled from as anti-Syrian sentiment grows amid a dire economic crisis, security officials and a humanitarian source said Friday.

One of the Syrians deported was an army defector, a relative said, warning that "his life is in danger."

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh held a meeting last Wednesday in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accompanied by his wife, a highly informed Lebanese source said, despite recent denial of the visit by figures close to Franjieh.

Franjieh “tried to explore whether the Arab openness toward Syria would lead to Arab and Saudi acceptance of his election as president,” the source told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

French presidential adviser Patrick Durel has received from Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh signed written guarantees about his stance on different domestic and Arab issues, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported Thursday.

Durel conveyed the guarantees to Saudi Arabia, the daily said.

Hezbollah has recently told Paris that Suleiman Franjieh is its only presidential candidate and that is not willing to engage in any other discussion, a media report said.

Hezbollah is willing to “wait until the summer of 2024 or the summer of 2025 if (Franjieh’s election) doesn’t take place in the summer of 2023 and there is no fear over institutions as long as the U.S. is paying the salaries of security forces,” al-Akhbar newspaper quoted Hezbollah as telling France.

Serious developments have taken place in the efforts led by France in the presidential elections file, a media report said on Thursday.

“Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri received days ago a phone call from French presidential adviser Patrick Durel, who asked the parliament speaker to launch a dialogue effort that would pave the way for an agreement leading to setting a date for a presidential election session,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil slammed Thursday caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati for taking unilateral decisions by signing dozens of extraordinary approvals on his own.

"Those who are keen on the constitution and the presidency, wouldn't boycott extraordinary parliamentary sessions and attend ordinary Cabinet sessions," Bassil said in a tweet.

A solution to the presidential impasse is near and a president might be elected before June, an official told al-Joumhouria.

Diplomatic Arab sources also told the daily, in remarks published Thursday, that talks are ongoing between the five nations that took part in the latest Paris meeting and that France might send an envoy to Beirut in the coming days in an attempt to solve the presidential crisis.

Al Mawarid Bank chairman and ex-Lebanese minister Marwan Kheireddine will return to Lebanon in the weekend, a media report said.

“The French judiciary took a decision to release him on Tuesday after it turned out during his interrogation that there are no corruption suspicions over his activities,” Lebanon’s privately-run al-Markazia news agency reported.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized Wednesday the parliament and the government for postponing the municipal elections for up to a year and said that the LF and the opposition forces will file an appeal against the municipalities' term extension law.

Parliament on Tuesday had passed a law that extends municipalities' term for a second time, in a session boycotted by the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb, Tajaddod and Change MPs.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday followed up with caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi on “the preparations for holding the municipal elections based on the law issued yesterday by parliament,” the National News Agency said.

“It was agreed that the Interior Minister would prepare the new and needed budget for organizing the elections so that a line of credit can be opened,” NNA added.