Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday lauded President Michel Aoun's visit to Saudi Arabia as an “important step,” as he stressed his keenness on “the policy of dialogue” in Lebanon.

The Kataeb Party on Monday accused the government of failing to honor its promise on devising a new electoral law, while slamming what it described as a “rushed” approval of decrees related to offshore oil and gas exploration.

Deputy PM and Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani noted Monday that it is up to President Michel Aoun to decide whether or not to visit Damascus, while pointing out that the Cabinet would debate the thorny issue.

President Michel Aoun arrived Monday in Saudi Arabia on his first foreign trip since taking office, starting an Arab tour that will also take him to Qatar and Egypt.

British Ambassador Hugo Shorter hailed on Monday the resumption of the cabinet's work, as he stressed that the UK looks forward to the timely holding of the parliamentary elections.

‘I welcomed the fact that cabinet has already started work, taking key economic and other decisions last week. There is of course much still to do,” said Shorter after meeting Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri will chair a cabinet meeting on Wednesday to continue discussions on the oil and gas excavation file, media reports said Monday.

On Sunday, copies of the cabinet agenda were distributed to the ministers who will convene this time at the Grand Serial instead of at the Presidential Palace.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah mourned on Monday former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a “major supporter” of the resistance during difficult times.

“Yesterday (Sunday) we lost one of the great men in this nation. For us, as the Islamic resistance in Lebanon and for 34 years, he was the protector, supporters and a compassionate father who has always defended us in all difficult circumstances,” said Nasrallah.

In the last 48 hours, security measures have been upped in several areas around the country, mainly in Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, amid information that some terror acts have been planned to shake the country's safety, al-Joumhouria daily reported Monday.

Speaker Nabih Berri plans to call the parliament to session before the month's end, to put and approve a final draft for the upcoming parliamentary elections, An Nahar daily reported Monday.

The step comes after President Michel Aoun signed a decree on Saturday to open an extraordinary parliamentary session aimed at pushing the rival political parties into agreeing on a new law before May 2017-- the scheduled date for holding the polls.

The body of Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, the former Greek Melkite Catholic archbishop in Jerusalem who was exiled to the Vatican for his pro-Palestinian activism, has arrived in Lebanon where he will be buried.

A native of Aleppo, Syria, Capucci died in Rome on Jan. 1 at the age of 94. A funeral is expected Monday.