U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea joined Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun in Ras Baalbek on September 8 to celebrate the completion of explosives clearance in the area of Arsal and Ras Baalbek. Shea reviewed progress made since the 2017 defeat of jihadist groups in the area.

Lebanese judicial authorities have questioned two people at the request of Turkey on suspicion of being involved in the 2019 escape of auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn from Japan to Lebanon, officials said Friday.

The recent questioning of the two men in Beirut came a week before a hearing in Lebanon about the $1 billion lawsuit that Ghosn, formerly the president of Nissan, filed against the company and about a dozen people in Beirut over his imprisonment in Japan and what he says is Fmisinformation spread against him.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi started Friday a tour to the Chouf and Aley regions on the anniversary of the 2001 Mountain Reconciliation.

After meeting Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Sami Abi al-Mona in the town of Chanay, al-Rahi highlighted the diversity of Lebanon.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has dubbed a seven-day dialogue proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri an attempt to obstruct the presidential election.

"Berri is a master of political antics," Geagea said, adding that dialogue is a futile farce.

Clashes resumed in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp overnight, with heavy gunfire and shelling wounding at least 20 people and prompting residents of the camp and the surrounding area to flee on Friday.

There had previously been several days of street battles in the Ein el-Hilweh camp between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and Islamist groups after Fatah accused the Islamists of gunning down one of their military generals on July 30. Those street battles left at least 13 dead and dozens wounded, and forced hundreds to flee from their homes.

Progressive Socialist Party former leader Walid Jumblat on Friday lauded Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s “local, Arab and international efforts for resolving the presidential crisis.”

“We also highly appreciate your support for dialogue, despite the various obstacles,” Jumblat added addressing al-Rahi, at a gathering in Mukhtara that was part of the patriarch’s tour of the Chouf and Aley regions.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka on Friday met with caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. The Special Coordinator underlined that the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2695 on the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate should be “an opportunity for all sides to recommit to stability in southern Lebanon and along the Blue Line,” her office said.

She mentioned in particular “the importance of working towards the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006).”

Lebanon is “governed by stability and security and its civil peace will not be shaken,” a senior Lebanese leader has quoted a prominent international envoy as saying.

The envoy had visited Lebanon recently, the senior leader told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, in remarks published Friday.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has lashed out at both Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the Lebanese Forces-led opposition over the issue of the proposed dialogue.

“As if all parties have a tacit agreement on maintaining presidential vacuum so that each of them can implement his project,” Bassil said at an FPM ceremony in Batroun.

Clashes broke out late Thursday in a restive Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon that was rocked by deadly fighting just weeks ago, an AFP correspondent said.

The fighting in the Ain el-Helweh camp once again pitted members of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement against Islamist militants, a source within the Palestinian camp's leadership said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.