The Central Bank employees plan to go on strike on Monday in protest at the arrest of senior bank official Mazen Hamdan over currency manipulation accusations, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

Security forces seized several oil tankers and trucks smuggling basic materials through illegal crossings from Lebanon into Syria, MTV station reported on Friday.

Lebanon on Thursday ordered the seizure of all contraband goods at its border with Syria after a controversy over fuel smuggling, as both countries face economic crises.

Lebanon is mired in its worst economic crunch in decades and public pressure has mounted for a tougher approach to smuggling, especially of fuel and flour.

Lebanese prosecutors on Thursday ordered the arrest of a senior central bank official as part of an investigation into exchange rate manipulations as the country struggles with a major currency crisis.

After reversing an earlier decision easing confinement measures over a spike in coronavirus, eight new cases were recorded on Thursday including two Lebanese expats repatriated recently.

The government’s reinstated nationwide lockdown began on Thursday following a spike in reported coronavirus cases in Lebanon, as the health minister said the efficiency of the measure will be accessed on Sunday when the four-day lockdown ends.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea described as “disappointing” the Higher Defense Council’s decision to “curb” smuggling through Lebanon’s illegal border crossings, saying they should have been ordered closed “entirely.”

Mount Lebanon Prosecutor on Wednesday pressed charges against 12 people including government officials over a delivery of suspect fuel through an Algerian oil company, state media said. 

The Higher Defense Council on Wednesday decided to "intensify monitoring and prosecution and toughen penalties against smugglers and their partners" in a bid to control illicit trafficking across the porous and poorely demarcated border with Syria.

The Lebanese government and the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday finished the first phase of “talks aimed at reaching an agreement that would re-put the Lebanese economy on the correct track,” the Finance Ministry said.