General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who has mediated the release of Westerners held in Syria and also acted as a mediator within Lebanon, stepped down Wednesday after attempts to extend his term failed.

Ibrahim's term ends Thursday, when he reaches retirement age of 64 in Lebanon. On Wednesday afternoon, he left his office and was replaced by Brig. Gen. Elias Baissary as acting head of the agency.

Lebanon’s unofficial dollar exchange rate dropped by more than LBP 10,000 on Wednesday evening, shortly after Central Bank chief Riad Salameh announced that the bank will start buying and selling dollars at a Sayrafa platform rate of LBP 70,000.

Acting General Security chief Brig. Gen. Elias Bayssari on Wednesday hailed outgoing General Security head Abbas Ibrahim, during a ceremony to bid farewell to the latter on the occasion of the end of his term.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the Free Patriotic Movement have attacked each other over the signatures needed for decrees issued by the caretaker cabinet.

Outgoing General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim on Wednesday announced that he would not have accepted any “illegal exit” for extending his term, which expires on Wednesday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has considered any dialogue with Hezbollah and the FPM over presidency, as unlikely.

"All of Hezbollah's calls for dialogue are fake and misleading," Geagea said, in remarks published Wednesday, as he told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that when Hezbollah calls for dialogue, what it really wants is discussing the nomination of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka called Wednesday for the election of a new president "without further delay."

"We are now into the fifth month of presidential vacuum in Lebanon," Wronecka said in a tweet.

A number of Tyre Municipality policemen and workers on Tuesday stormed the city’s SGBL bank branch, decrying that they have not been paid their salaries for a second month in a row.

State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat on Tuesday asked Mt. Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun to suspend her investigations into the banks file until a ruling is issued in the lawsuit against her.

Following weeks of efforts to find a legal solution that would allow for the extension of General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim’s term, the attempts have reached a dead end, in a clear indication on the absence of political consensus on the issue, media reports said.