Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday strongly condemned the arrest of prominent port blast case activist William Noon, saying his detention proved that the judiciary “has become a tool for vengeance, malice and hatred and that security agencies are carry out police state practices.”

A key figure among the families of Beirut's 2020 port explosion victims was released Saturday after his arrest a day earlier sparked protests in the Lebanese capital and other Lebanese areas.

The Lebanese army has said that troops have freed two Syrian children kidnapped by criminals along the Lebanon-Syria border last October.

The case had been followed closely in Lebanon where the kidnappers had demanded $350,000 in ransom and released videos showing the children being tortured.

Former president and Free Patriotic Movement founder Michel Aoun has reportedly threatened to “tear up the Mar Mikhail Agreement” with Hezbollah and “throw it in the trash bin.”

The arrest of a prominent activist in the port blast case, William Noon, has sparked protests across the country and political condemnation.

The Lebanese Army on Friday announced that it opened fire at an Israeli drone near the border with Israel.

“As an army patrol was inspecting an (Israeli) violation in the outskirts of the town of Houla and the Honin Valley, a drone belonging to the Israeli enemy violated the Lebanese airspace over the aforementioned area and hovered over the patrol, which promoted soldiers to open fire toward it,” the army said in a statement.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday held talks with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The National News Agency said the meeting tackled means to develop the relations between Lebanon and Iran in addition to the situation in the region.

Israel’s outgoing army chief Aviv Kohavi has warned that if a new war broke out with Hezbollah, Israel would send Lebanon 50 years back in time through what he called “waves of firepower” that Israel would unleash on the Iranian-backed group as well as against Lebanese national infrastructure.

“Hezbollah and (its leader Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah know that Lebanon will be hit in an unprecedented way which it has never experienced in its history,” Kohavi said in an English-language interview published by The Jeursalem Post.

Caretaker Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram announced Friday that it has been decided to approve a hike of an LBP 1.9 million on the wages of the private sector and to increase the transportation allowance from LBP 95,000 to LBP 125,000.

The decision was taken in a meeting for the country’s Consumer Price Index Committee.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held talks Friday in Beirut with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib.

“We heard from Abdollahian Iran’s keenness on Lebanon’s stability and the importance of finalizing the presidential juncture,” Bou Habib said at a joint press conference after the meeting.