Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel anew on Monday that it would not be able to extract gas from the Karish field without a sea border agreement with Lebanon.

“If the extraction of oil and gas from Karish begins in September before Lebanon obtains its right, we would be heading to ‘a problem’ and we'll do anything to achieve our objective,” Nasrallah said in an interview on al-Mayadeen TV.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim on Monday stressed that the General Security agency implemented the judiciary’s instructions when it interrogated Archbishop Moussa al-Hajj and searched his luggage for at least eight hours at the Naqoura border crossing.

“Archbishop Moussa al-Hajj did not face any insult from the General Security agents and he had 20 travel suitcases which required eight hours to be searched,” Ibrahim told al-Jadeed TV.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Monday met with Ukrainian Ambassador to Lebanon Ihor Ostach.

The Foreign Ministry said Ostach told Bou Habib that “as part of its aid for Lebanon, his country has set up a port for maintaining the delivery of wheat to Lebanon due to Lebanon’s stance on the Russian-Ukrainian war.”

Lebanese authorities launched an investigation Monday into the kidnapping at the weekend of a Saudi lured to the country's eastern region of Bekaa to buy a property, a judicial official said.

The Bekaa public prosecutor instructed security forces to "conduct investigations and gather information on his whereabouts, which is likely the al-Sharawneh neighborhood" on the outskirts of the city of Baalbek, the official told AFP, asking not to be named.

Lebanese chief Samir Geagea urged Monday for the dismissal of Judge Fadi Akiki as he described him as a traitor and accused Lebanese authorities of evading responsibility.

"What he did was indecent and those behind him are bigger traitors," Geagea said, urging the Lebanese not to believe a word of what was said about the reasons behind Archbishop Moussa al-Hajj's detention. "They are liars," he assumed.

The American University of Beirut’s most prestigious recognition, the University Medal, was conferred on Professor Samir Tabet in recognition of his extraordinary contributions and achievements, AUB said Monday in a statement.

The statement said that Tabet, AUB vice-president emeritus, former acting president, accomplished academic, and artist had received the University Medal during a ceremony held on July 7 at AUB’s Marquand House.

A state security service is expanding the investigations over Archbishop Moussa al-Hajj to include an audit of the bishop’s properties, al-Akhbar newspaper reported Monday.

The daily said that informed sources had suggested a possibility of a material benefit in exchange for the transfer of funds from Israel to Lebanon.

The countdown to reach an agreement on the border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel has begun, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Monday.

The daily said that General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim is carrying on with the negotiations with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein, who is expected to visit Lebanon soon with a final response to Lebanon's demands.

All contacts between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati regarding the government formation have been halted, al-Joumhouria newspaper said.

The daily said Monday, based on high-level sources, that even mediations have stopped between Baabda and the Grand Serail, and that all the attention now is on the upcoming Presidential election.

Head of Hezbollah Executive Council Sayyed Hashem Safieddine said Monday that Hezbollah is close today to defeating Israel by land and sea.

"We are close to defeating the Israelis by land and by sea if we want to, and we will decide when to do it," Safieddine said, adding that the Israelis are not the ones who impose their equation in this matter.