Like many people in crisis-hit Lebanon, Elias Skaff used to wait for hours to withdraw cash at the bank but now prefers money transfer companies as trust in lenders has evaporated.

Lebanese authorities have arrested five State Security agents on suspicion of torturing to death a Syrian detainee, in the latest abuse allegation against the security services, a judicial source told AFP.

The 13 MPs of the so-called change bloc on Saturday launched their long-awaited presidential initiative, which calls for the election of a reformist president who is not part of the polarization between the traditional political forces in the country.

Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has announced from Tehran that Hezbollah “has contributed to changing the equations of the region.”

“The course shifted from consolidating the usurper entity (Israel) to the course of liberating Palestine, and from deep-rooting subordination to the West to people’s independence, and from surrender to resistance and dignity,” Qassem said at the Seventh Session of the General Assembly of AhlulBayt in the Iranian capital.

U.S. border demarcation mediator Amos Hochstein is studying with the French “a solution format that would give the impression that Israel has won,” a Lebanese media report said on Friday.

Al-Akhbar newspaper added that such a solution might come at the expense of the profits of the gas drilling companies, seeing as “Lebanon will not accept to give up any part of the Qana field nor any commercial or operational partnership at the level of the exploring and drilling companies.”

President Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement's demands regarding the new government are "heavy", sources said.

The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Friday, that Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati will not accept Aoun's demands, supported by what Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday, that "parliament is the only side entrusted with interpreting the constitution."

The killing of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics prompted Israel to turn to a strategy which endures to this day: deploying secret operatives abroad to assassinate its enemies.

Ever since the Mossad intelligence service embarked on its Operation "Wrath of God" to hunt down senior militants it blamed for the Munich bloodbath, it has covertly targeted Israel's enemies overseas.

The Lebanese pound hit a new low against the U.S. dollar on the black market Friday, as it crashed below 35,000, reaching 35,500.

For decades, the Lebanese pound was pegged to the dollar at 1,500.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has announced the appointment of Imran Riza of Pakistan as his Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident Coordinator for Lebanon. Riza will also serve as Humanitarian Coordinator, the UN said in a statement.

"Mr. Riza succeeds Najat Rochdi of Morocco, who recently completed her assignment and to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her accomplishments and wishes her continued success in her new appointment as Deputy Special Envoy for Syria," the statement said.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein has postponed his visit to the region until September seven, al-Akhbar newspaper said Thursday.

The daily added that Hochstein has held an online meeting with Israeli officials after having met in Greece with Israeli delegates and the leadership of the Greek gas exploration company, Energean.