President Michel Aoun told UNIFIL chief Major General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz, Thursday in a meeting, that the Israeli violations are threatening Lebanon's stability and sovereignty.

Aoun underlined Lebanon's commitment to the U.N. resolution 1701, condemning the Israeli violations.

Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on Thursday ordered the detention of the businessman Raja Salameh, the brother of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, after questioning him for several hours.

"Raja Salameh was detained during his interrogation at the Justice Palace and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh will be summoned," the lawyers of the People Want to Reform the Regime group told al-Jadeed TV.

A senior banking official has warned that Lebanon will likely plunge into a dire LBP liquidity crisis, amid the current unusual escalation between banks and some judges that has involved the freezing and seizure of assets belonging to some banks.

This might push banks’ administrations to “hold emergency meetings amid calls for escalating the confrontation, all the way to taking a decision to shut down collectively as a warning move, and demanding that the government and the central bank intervene in an urgent manner to address the growing crises in a fair way,” the official told Ashraq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

Judge Ghada Aoun froze on Thursday the assets of the Creditbank and its director Tarek Khalifeh.

She also imposed a travel ban on Khalifeh, al-Jadeed TV said, after having imposed last week travel bans on the directors of five other banks as auditors look into transfers by the banks worth $5 billion.

The assets of Fransabank were seized and all monetary operations were suspended and safes and registers were sealed with red wax, after a depositor filed a lawsuit against the bank.

Earlier this week, Judge Ghada Aoun had also frozen the assets of five of Lebanon’s largest banks and those of their board of directors as she investigates possible transfers of billions of dollars aboard during the country’s economic meltdown.

Two explosions were heard in Ain al-Remmaneh at dawn Thursday, as two percussion bombs were thrown in the area, damaging shops and cars.

The persons who threw the bombs remain unknown.

As the war in Ukraine rages on, diplomats trying to salvage the languishing 2015 Iran nuclear deal have been forging ahead with negotiations despite distractions caused by the conflict. They now appear to be near the cusp of a deal that would bring the U.S. back into the accord and bring Iran back into compliance with limits on its nuclear program.

After 11 months of on-and-off talks in Vienna, U.S. officials and others say only a very small number of issues remain to be resolved. Meanwhile, Russia appears to have backed down on a threat to crater an agreement over Ukraine-related sanctions that had dampened prospects for a quick deal.

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the long-awaited electricity plant, the information minister said after the session, while noting that the power plant that will be set up in the North will not necessarily be in the town of Selaata.

Moreover, the sector’s regulatory commission will be formed in 2022, not in 2023, while some articles and environmental conditions were amended, Information Minister Ziad Makari said.

Relatives of Beirut port blast victims staged a protest Wednesday outside the residence of Justice Minister Henri Khoury.

“Cowardly Minister!” was one of the phrases that they wrote on the external walls of Khoury’s apartment. The protesters also wrote names of victims.

The French and Saudi officials who met in Paris on Tuesday discussed “the coordination of the executive steps that have been agreed to assist Lebanon, especially through the joint fund that has been set up for this purpose,” sources who accompanied the Saudi visit to Paris said.

“Not a single penny of the Saudi aid parcel for the Lebanese will pass through the official Lebanese institutions,” the sources told Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.